A Message from Dr. Hanbury on Health Benefits

NSU’s open enrollment for medical, life, dental and other insured benefit plans will be held February 1 through February 12 for coverage effective April 1, 2021. NSU offers comprehensive medical and other insured benefit plans as part of a robust and competitive employee benefit program.  During open enrollment, you will have the opportunity to renew enrollments, add coverages and make other needed changes to your benefit elections.

This year’s premium increases for medical insurance are a very modest 2.2% for the Preferred PPO and High Deductible PPO plans (in which the vast majority of NSU’s employees are enrolled) and 10% for the Premier PPO plan. This compares favorably to Florida Blue Cross/Blue Shield’s statewide average increase of 10%.  The new monthly premium amounts by plan and coverage tier can be found at www.nova.edu/hr/benefits, and you will receive a detailed communication from the Office of Human Resources (OHR) describing your election options for all insured benefit plans. Of particular note are the following benefit plan enhancements and additions:

• The 2021 Preferred PPO and Premier PPO are rated as gold level plans by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid and the High Deductible PPO plan is rated as silver level.
• Delta Dental replaces Humana as NSU’s dental insurer. The Delta Dental plan covers 178 more procedures (including child and adult orthodontia, implants, teeth whitening, etc.) and includes a larger network of dentists and dental surgeons than the Humana plan at a comparable premium cost.
• The High Deductible PPO plan includes lower co-pays (reduced to an amount equivalent to the Preferred PPO plan) on emergency room and urgent care visits; specialist office visits; and physical, occupational and speech therapy visits.
• Rally wellness program incentives increase from $270 to $330 per year.
• Nationwide Pet Insurance is added as an optional benefit plan.

Importantly, all our medical insurance plans cover at 100% (with no employee co-pay or deductible) COVID-19-related expenses for provider-ordered COVID-19 testing, doctor visits, hospitalization and vaccine injections.

I encourage all of you to review the open enrollment information from OHR and make those elections that best suit the needs of you and your family. OHR will be scheduling Zoom meetings beginning the week prior and throughout open enrollment to answer questions and to assist you in your benefit elections.  Online counseling through Explain My Benefits will also be available to employees on demand.  Also, please stay connected throughout the year by participating in OHR’s wellness programming.  This year, 2,170 NSU employees attended 33 wellness covering topics such as managing stress, chronic pain, heart health, breast cancer and bariatric surgery.  Wishing you all a safe and healthy 2021.