The open enrollment season for 2019 benefits is here. Open enrollment is the one time each year that you can review your elections and choose the health care coverage that will work best for you and your family in the coming calendar year. This is your only opportunity to enroll in or make changes to your benefits, unless you have a qualifying change in status such as a birth, marriage or loss of cover­age. Any changes you make will become effective Jan. 1, 2019.

As you prepare to make important decisions about your benefits options for 2019, here are a few highlights for Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System Corporation employees to keep in mind:

Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System Corporation

Open Enrollment dates: Oct. 15 through Oct. 31

You will now have a choice be­tween TWO medical plans:

The current PPO (preferred provider) plan—in-network and out-of-network providers; higher biweekly premiums but lower out-of-pocket costs

A new plan with lower monthly costs, called an exclusive provider organization (EPO) plan—offers a wide choice of physicians and care providers who are in our network; lower biweekly premiums but higher out-of-pocket costs

A new Direct Primary Care benefit (see below)

Have Aflac? Beginning in 2019, employees who have Aflac supplemental coverage will receive bills directly from Aflac. Your premiums will no longer be deducted from your paycheck.

Unlike last year, you are not required to access the SmartSource portal to en­roll if you are not making changes. Your current benefits elections will remain in effect for 2019. However, you will need to go online in order to:

Enroll in the new EHP EPO plan.

Update beneficiaries and enroll dependents. Make sure your fam­ily’s information is up to date, and confirm that your dependents are enrolled.

Earn the tobacco-free credit. If you have tested as tobacco-free for two years in a row, you do not need a new screening. Voluntary tobacco screening is available through Lab­Corp.

Enroll or re-enroll in a health care and dependent care flexible spend­ing account. An FSA lets you set aside tax-free funds each paycheck for eligible health care or dependent care expenses. Represented em­ployees are now eligible to enroll in health care and dependent care FSA accounts. Also, beginning in 2019, you can carry over up to $500 in your health care FSA account into 2020 and beyond.

Tuition Assistance—Good News!

Effective Jan. 1, 2019, employees of The Johns Hopkins Hospital who are scheduled to work 36 hours per week (.9 FTE) will be considered full time and are now eligible to receive up to $10,000

in tuition reimbursement. In addition, employees scheduled to work 36 hours per week will now be eligible to receive tuition reimbursement for their dependents who are attending college.

Employees hired after Jan. 1, 2018, are eligible for the dependent tuition benefit after four years of employment with the health system. Employees hired before Jan. 1, 2018, remain eligible after two years of employment.

EHP will be at Hurd Hall in The Johns Hopkins Hospital to answer your questions during the following times:

Oct. 16: 8 a.m. to noon

Oct. 17: 8 a.m. to noon

Oct. 22: noon to 5 p.m.

Oct. 24: noon to 5 p.m.

Oct. 30: noon to 5 p.m.

Here are highlights for Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine employees:Open enrollment dates: Oct. 19 through Nov. 7

Medical plan premiums: There will be increases to your medical plan premi­ums of about 4 percent.

If you are waiving medical coverage, and have completed a medical waiver form, you will be eligible for the annual waiver credit of $800 (if your salary is $40,000 or less) or $500 (if your salary is more than $40,000). You must complete a new form only if you are waiving coverage for the first time.

Enhanced dental plan options through Delta Dental: For dental coverage, we will replace the Cigna and CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield den­tal plans with two new options, both administered by Delta Dental. You now can choose the dental plan that best fits your needs, and include optional orth­odontia benefits. The United Concordia Plus dental health maintenance organi­zation (DHMO) plan will remain for current participants only through Dec. 31, 2019, at the new plan rates. Cov­erage through this plan will terminate for the 2020 plan year.

Enriched vision plan option through EyeMed. For vision coverage, a new and enhanced plan, administered by EyeMed, will replace the voluntary UnitedHealthcare plan. Vision coverage will now be available as a core benefit of­fering, which will allow you to enroll in the plan through myChoices and pay for coverage with the convenience of pretax payroll deductions. The pretax feature is new for 2019.

Expanded supplemental life and AD&D coverage. For 2019, we will broaden our supplemental life and accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) offering through Securian Fi­nancial, allowing you more opportunities to ensure your financial security.

You may now purchase additional coverage in full salary multiples from one to eight times your annual base salary, to a maximum benefit of $3 million (basic and supplemental combined).

You may be automatically bumped, in some cases, to the next coverage level to align with our new ben­efit structure if you currently have supplemental life or AD&D insur­ance and make no changes to your coverage for 2019.

Health care FSA contribution increases. The maximum health care FSA employee contribution will increase to $2,650 for 2019. You must re-enroll in the health care FSA and the dependent care FSA each year. Up to $500 of un­used health care FSA funds will roll over into the next plan year.

Reminder about short-term dis­ability coverage: There are no changes to your short-term disability coverage for 2019. Remember that annual enroll­ment is your opportunity to enroll in the short-term disability plan, which provides a benefit of 60 percent of your weekly base salary up to $2,500. This benefit was increased last year. Consider enrolling in this benefit to help protect your income if you need to be out of work due to an unforeseen illness or injury.

The myChoices tab on the benefits website at benefits.jhu.edu/mychoices is your primary resource for 2019 annual enrollment information, including plan details, benefits tools and the link to the enrollment site.