The annual open enrollment period for endowed health, dental and select benefits plans will be Nov. 1-30. Although similar to previous open enrollments, some of the provisions of the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) may factor into employees' enrollment decisions.

As in the past, during the open enrollment period endowed faculty and staff can:

These enrollments or changes are available electronically during the open enrollment period through eBenefits, through Employee Essentials, at https://ee.ohr.cornell.edu.

Provisions in ACA for children ages 19-26 give faculty and staff additional options:

Both the Cornell Program for Healthy Living and the Aetna Health Savings Account will have enhanced features in 2011. These features will be summarized in subsequent communications and on the human resources benefits web pages as the open enrollment period nears. Health and dental premium rates will be announced later this month.

Contract college faculty and staff will be able to make their health care determinations during the option transfer period, which will be set by the New York State Health Insurance Plan (NYSHIP) and is usually announced around Thanksgiving. Contract college employees will also be able to enroll in the Select Benefits medical and dependent care accounts during the option transfer period.

However, outside of the option transfer period and starting Nov. 1, NYSHIP has announced a special enrollment opportunity for parents with children between the ages of 19 and 26 with an effective date of Jan. 1, 2011. More information on this offer and special enrollment period will be released as NYSHIP announces its plans.

Benefair will be held Nov. 10, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., in G10 Biotechnology Building. Representatives from Cornell's benefits vendors and consultants from Benefits Services' Resource Center will be on hand to answer questions.

For more information, contact the Resource Center at Benefit Services, 607-255-3936 or e-mail benefits@cornell.edu, or go to http://www.hr.cornell.edu/benefits.