The annual benefits open enrollment period will be held this year from Thursday, Oct. 31 through Thursday, Nov. 14.
Personal Enrollment Guides will be sent to all benefits-eligible employees through interdepartmental mail later this month. Early retirees under age 65 will receive guides through U.S. mail. The guide summarizes each eligible employee's current benefit coverage and gives instructions for making benefits elections. You do not need to do anything if you want to keep your current level of coverage for 2003, unless you want to maintain a Flexible Spending Account. Anyone who had a Flexible Spending Account in 2002 must re-enroll to have an account in 2003.
If you do not receive your enrollment guide by Nov. 1, e-mail benefits-www@mit.edu or call the campus Benefits Office at 253-0500. Lincoln Laboratory employees should contact the Lincoln Benefits Office at (781) 981-7055.
At a series of upcoming Benefits Fairs, representatives from each of the health plans, the dental plan and the life insurance plan will be available to answer questions. Benefits Office staff also will attend to answer any other benefits questions.
The schedule for the Benefits Fairs is as follows.
- Campus - Wednesday, Oct. 30, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., 20 Chimneys (Stratton Student Center)
- Haystack - Tuesday, Oct. 29, 10 to 11 a.m., Conference Room A
- Bates - Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2 to 3 p.m., Cafeteria
- Lincoln Lab - Tuesday, Nov. 5, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Lincoln Lab Auditorium
Employees may make enrollment selections by phone, or online via the SAPWeb benefits self-service system, a secure web service that requires Netscape 4.7 or higher or Internet Explorer 5.5 with Service Pack 2. The phone-based system lets you listen to a review of your benefits and record benefits changes.
For more information on the 2003 open enrollment changes or benefit plans, see the Benefits Office web page. Anyone with questions should attend one of the scheduled Benefit Fairs. You may also e-mail questions to benefits-www@mit.edu, or call the Benefits Office on campus at 253-6151 or at Lincoln Lab at (781) 981-7055.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on October 23, 2002.
