This year, Cornell's benefits endowed open enrollment period will present the same health plan choices as last year, including a very attractive plan that promotes wellness and another, more complex plan that promotes health savings accounts, as well as three plans that have been offered for many years. Regardless of the choices made, however, the open enrollment period should be a simple process for most faculty and staff. The only actions employees need to take are to 1) enroll in or change health or dental care plans, 2) choose to enroll in either Select Medical Care or Dependent Care reimbursement accounts and 3) for employees who use behavioral health care (mental health and substance abuse) benefits, check to see if your providers will be in network or out of network under the plans offered by the new vendors, HealthNow (Health Integrated) and Aetna Behavioral Health.

For endowed employees, with the exception of the Aetna Health Savings Account, four out of the five health plans remain unchanged from last year, with modest premium rate increases. (The HSA has deductible, out-of-pocket and contribution limit increases due to IRS regulations). Staff and faculty who considered but did not join the Cornell Program for Healthy Living last year may want to reconsider it this year -- many of those who joined last year have found that the plan gives them an extra incentive to make healthy lifestyle choices. The process to receive a fitness center discount, or to continue the plan again next year if you are already enrolled, has been simplified. The endowed dental plans have also changed slightly.

For contract college and endowed employees, Select Benefits remains a good option for setting aside money on a pre-tax basis for medical and dependent care expenses. If you receive a Cornell Child Care Grant, you must sign up for a dependent care account.

The only significant change this year is in the vendor Cornell is using for behavioral health care coverage. In the past, participants in the HealthNow PPO and Aetna PPO or Cornell Program for Healthy Living received behavioral health coverage through ValueOptions. Effective Jan. 1, employees enrolled in the HealthNow PPO Plan will receive behavioral health coverage through HealthNow (Health Integrated), and employees in the Aetna PPO and CPHL will receive behavioral health coverage through Aetna Behavioral Health.

The level of benefits and the coverage provided are the same as they were under ValueOptions. However, the ValueOptions network of providers differed a bit from the networks of providers who have joined Health Integrated or Aetna Behavioral Health. Participants will need to check these provider lists, and in some cases, work with their providers to have them added to the network.

To help employees who will be affected by the move from ValueOptions to HealthNow (Health Integrated) or Aetna Behavioral Health, Q&As have been posted on the HR Web site, at http://www.ohr.cornell.edu/whatsNew/whatsNewBenefits/whatsNewBenefits.html. More information is provided in the Open Enrollment booklet to explain how you might be affected by this change.

Remember -- you can also get your questions answered by coming to Benefair -- Nov. 12, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., G10 Biotech. The open enrollment period for enrolling in or changing endowed health care or dental care coverage is Nov. 10-26. An extension period runs from Nov. 27-Dec. 31.