Your Benefits HOME

Initial Eligibility

When you first begin full-time employment as an employee with your company, your clock starts for benefits eligibility, if applicable.

There is usually a 30 to 60-day waiting period to become eligibile for benefits, with benefits beginning on the first of the month following your eligibility date.

Example: You begin working full-time on October 15. Your company has a 60-day eligibility waiting period. You will become eligibile to enroll in benefits on December 15, with a January 1 benefits effective date.

Note, even if an employee is classified as "part-time," they may still be eligibile for benefits if they regularly work 30 hours or more per week. Also, ERISA dictates that an employee who works 1,000 hours or more in a 12-month span must be given the opportunity to enroll in the company's retirement plan.

Contact your supervisor, Nextep Health Assist, or Nextep rep or log in to your Elevate by Nextep™ account for information on your company's eligibility requirements. Receiving benefit information does not guarantee eligibility. Your dependents may also be eligible, including your spouse, domestic partner, and child dependents up to age 26.

Qualifying Event

In addition to initial eligibility and open enrollment, you may enroll or make changes to your benefits within 30 days of federally-approved qualifying events.

Qualifying events are circumstances that may cause an employee or their immediate family members to become eligible to enroll in, change, or terminate coverage in the company’s plan. The employee must make benefit changes within 30 days of these life events. Examples include:

• Marriage or divorce
• Birth of a child
• Loss of coverage in another plan
• Increase or decrease in hours

With most benefit plans, changes must align with the event. For example, a spouse’s job loss can create an event in which the spouse may be qualified to join the employee’s benefit plan.

Learn more about qualifying events:
QUALIFYING EVENTS

Open Enrollment for Health and Supplemental Plans

Open enrollment for health and supplemental plans occurs each year in August. During this time, you have the option to enroll, terminate, or make changes to your benefit plans.

Nextep will contact you via email and in your Nextep desktop account and mobile app when your company's open enrollment begins. All enrollments or changes are effective October 1, regardless of when the enrollment is received.

Though your open enrollment changes will become effective October 1, your health plan still runs on the calendar year. For example, your deductible and coinsurance balances refresh each year on January 1.

Please note, your company may not offer all of the benefits listed here. Log into your account to learn more about your specific benefit offering.

If you need to make changes after your enrollment period ends, our benefits team is available to help! Also, check your benefit deductions on your first paycheck in October. Report any corrections to Nextep immediately.

You may enroll or change these voluntary benefits on a month-to-month basis: pet, legal, and ID theft protection, lifestyle.

Check out open enrollment resources:
OPEN ENROLLMENT

Year-End: FSA, HSA, DCA, and More

Open enrollment for FSA & HSA occurs in November for a January 1 effective date.

At the end of the year, you'll have the opportunity to enroll in FSA, HSA, DCA, LPFSA, and Parking & Transit FSA accounts.

FSA and HSA elections do not automatically renew each year. To comply with IRS regulations, employees must re-enroll in the FSA and HSA benefit each year to continue participation.

• Flexible spending account (FSA): FSA annual enrollment is at the end of the year with a January 1 start date.
• Health savings account (HSA): You may change HSA deductions at any time. Open enrollment is at year-end.
• Retirement accounts: Once eligible, you may enroll or change your 401(k) at the first of each month. Exception: You may change contributions to 0% at any time.

Check out year-end enrollment resources:
YEAR-END ENROLLMENT