Making Benefits Changes
Making changes to your benefits is normally allowed only once per year, during annual enrollment, due to IRS regulations. However, if you experience a qualifying family status change, you can make benefit changes mid-year as long as you make the change within 31 days of the event.
Types of Changes
Some common family status changes include:
- Marriage
- Divorce, legal separation or annulment
- Birth of a child
- Placement of a foster child or a child for adoption with you, or assumption of legal guardianship of a child
- Change in your spouse's or dependent's employment status that affects benefit eligibility, including termination or commencement of employment, or change in worksite
- You or your spouse returns from unpaid leave of absence
- You or your dependent becomes eligible or loses eligibility for Medicare or Medicaid
- You become eligible due to losing parental coverage at age 26
- Death of your spouse or dependent
- Court ordered coverage of your child by you or your spouse, allowing you to add or drop the child's coverage
- Change in your, your spouse's or dependent's place of residence that affects eligibility
- Change in your employment that affects benefits eligibility (working at least 20 hours per week)
- Loss of eligibility for a dependent
- Change in dependent care provider or cost for Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account
The list above does not include every possible qualifying family status change.
How to make a change
If you experience a family status change, you can make changes to your benefits as long as the requested change is consistent with the qualifying event (for example if you have a baby, you may add the new child to your plan, but you cannot add a spouse).
In most cases, the effective date of the qualified family status change is the actual event date. However, in some situations (divorce, legal separation, change to employment), the effective date of the change is the first of the month following the actual event date.
Use Self-Service to complete your family status change. View step-by-step guide to making a family status change
In most cases, once you enter your family status change through Self-Service and make your elections, the process is complete. However, some mid-year changes also require documentation to be submitted within 31 days of the event.