Your Benefits HOME

Initial Eligibility

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

There is usually a 30 to 60-day waiting period to become eligible 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 eligible to enroll in benefits on December 15, with benefits effective January 1.

Note, even if an employee is classified as "part-time," they may still be eligible for benefits if they regularly work 30 hours or more per week. Also, ERISA requires an employee who works 1,000 hours or more in 12-months must be allowed 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 or mobile app 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 make an employee or their immediate family members eligible to enroll in, change, or terminate coverage under 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 may make the spouse eligible to join the employee's benefit plan.

Learn more about qualifying events:
QUALIFYING EVENTS

Mid-Year Open Enrollment

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 Elevate by 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.

Your company may not offer all of the benefits listed here. Benefit availability may vary by location. Log in to your account and visit the enrollment portal to view your specific benefit offerings and costs.

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.

Important note: Your company's open enrollment schedule might look a little different from what is shown here. Many teams sign up or make changes to their health benefits in August for an October 1 start date, but your company might follow a different timeline. No matter when you lock in your choices, your deductible and coinsurance will still run on the standard calendar year and reset every January 1.

You may enroll in 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

Annual enrollment for tax-advantaged savings accounts, such as FSA & HSA, occurs each 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), Dependent Care Account (DCA), and Limited-Purpose FSA (LPFSA): You must experience a federally-approved qualifying event to change your deduction amount mid-year for these plans.
• Health savings account (HSA), Parking & Transit FSAs: Annual enrollment is at the end of the year with a January 1 start date. You can start, stop, or change your deductions for these plans at any time during the year for any reason.
• Retirement: Once eligible, you may enroll or change your 401(k) or other retirement account at the beginning of each month. Exception: You may change contributions to 0% at any time.

The IRS adjusts the maximum contribution limits for these accounts each year. Visit your FSA annual enrollment resource center during November to see the updated maximums and plan your budget.

Check out year-end enrollment resources:
YEAR-END FSA/HSA ENROLLMENT

Am I eligible?

Receipt of this info does not guarantee benefit eligibility. Plans may vary based on geographic area availability, company's benefit portfolio, and eligibility criteria.

Log in to your enrollment portal in your Elevate by Nextep™ account or mobile app to see the specific plans available to you.

How much does it cost?

When it's time to enroll, you can view pricing for all plan options right in your Elevate by Nextep™ account or mobile app. As you click through the enrollment screens, a running tally will track and display your monthly costs in real time.

Need help choosing? Use the built-in Decision Support tool to get tailored benefit recommendations based on your unique lifestyle and budget.