New Employees

This page has important information to help to help new employees understand what you need to do for each step of the benefit enrollment process. It also provides some eligibility rules and guidelines about when your coverage begins and ends, and when you can change your benefits.

Sections:

• What You Need To Do
• Eligibility
• Enrolling for Benefits
• When Coverage Begins and Ends
• Changing Your Benefits

What You Need To Do

You must make a Plan election within 30 days from the date the enrollment packet is sent by the Administrator. The 30-day period will begin on the date of the letter in the enrollment packet. If you do not enroll within 30 days, you will default to Plan A – Full Plan for Employees & Families, the most expensive plan. If you are a part-time employee, you will not have health benefits.

Important Note: Full-time employees may NOT opt out of benefits coverage for themselves or their dependents pursuant to Alaska state law. To accommodate our full-time members inability to opt out of coverage, the Trust offers low-cost Plan options.

Please follow the steps below:

Option 1:

1) Click here for Online Enrollment to complete the registration and enrollment process. This option is simple, quick and only requires you to fill out one online form. Avoid filling out multiple forms, making copies, mailing or faxing and enroll online today! Once you complete the online enrollment process a confirmation email will be sent to you.

Option 2:

1. Complete the Benefits Enrollment Form for Full-Time Employees or Benefits Enrollment Form for Part-Time Employees.
2. Submit your completed enrollment form directly to the ASEA Health Trust Administrator online through Contact Us, by fax, or in the mail:
   
   Contact Us
   Fax: 509-323-7614
   Address: PO Box 5434, Spokane, WA 99205

Enrollment forms that you do not submit directly to the Trust (e.g., you give to Human Resources or your supervisor to submit) are not guaranteed to be received timely which will result in a default into Plan A, the most expensive plan, if you are a full-time employee. Part time employees that fail to enroll timely will not have coverage. Once your forms have been received by the Trust Administrator, you will receive confirmation in the mail. If you do not receive confirmation in the mail, please contact the Trust Administrator.

Eligibility

The ASEA Health Trust provides benefits to eligible employees and their dependents.

• Benefits are provided to permanent and long-term nonpermanent employees covered under the General Government bargaining unit:
  • Full-time employees scheduled to work 30 or more hours a week on a regular basis
  • Full-time seasonal employees
  • Part-time employees scheduled to work at least 15 but less than 30 hours a week on a regular basis who elect to participate in the Plan
    • Special rules apply for part-time employees who want to participate in the Group Health Plan. See the Eligibility section of the Plan Booklet for more details.
• Eligible dependents include:
  • Your spouse (you may be legally separated but not divorced)
  • Your children, from birth to age 26
    • The Plan Booklet’s Eligibility section details the rules concerning natural and adopted children as well as stepchildren, foster children, students and other dependents.

New Employees
Enrolling for Benefits

New employees or employees that have a status change or a transfer from another bargaining unit must enroll and make a Plan election within 30 days from the date the enrollment packet is sent by the Administrator. The 30-day period will begin on the date of the letter in the enrollment packet.

You must enroll for health benefits if you are:

• A full-time employee who wants to elect a plan other than the default plan (Plan A / Full Plan for Employees and Families)
• A full-time employee who wants to participate in the Health Care Reimbursement Account (HCRA)
• A part-time employee who wants to enroll for health benefits coverage
  • Part-time employees are not required to enroll for benefits. If you do not enroll, you will not have health benefits during this plan year.
  • Part-time employees may also elect to participate in the HCRA program if they elect health benefits.
  • If you are a part-time employee and you choose to enroll for benefits, you must make a Plan election within 30 days from the date the enrollment packet is sent by the Administrator in order to have health coverage. The 30-day period will begin on the date of the letter in the enrollment packet.
    • The State of Alaska provides a lower monthly contribution for part-time employees than for full-time employees. Therefore, the payroll deductions for part-time employees will be greater than for full-time employees.

Before enrolling, it is important to take the time to choose the plan that’s best for you and your family.

The ASEA Health Trust will mail an Enrollment Packet to you. It will include information about the plan choices and information you need to log in and enroll online if you choose. Or you may choose to complete the Benefits Enrollment Form for Full-Time Employees or the Benefits Enrollment Form for Part-Time Employees and submit the form online through Contact Us, by fax or in the mail.

You must complete your enrollment within 30 days from the date the enrollment packet is sent by the Administrator. The 30-day period will begin on the date of the letter in the enrollment packet. You may change your mind after you enroll either by revising your online enrollment or by completing and turning in a new Benefits Enrollment Form for Full-Time Employees or the Benefits Enrollment Form for Part-Time Employees to the ASEA Health Trust Administrator through Contact Us, by fax or in the mail within 30 days from the date the enrollment packet is sent by the Administrator. The 30-day period will begin on the date of the letter in the enrollment packet.

If you have been covered by the ASEA Health Trust and you are being rehired to the State of Alaska, or transferred back into a GGU position, you will need to enroll online or by faxing, mailing or emailing your Benefits Enrollment Form for Full-Time Employees or the Benefits Enrollment Form for Part-Time Employees to the ASEA Health Trust Administrator’s office.

New Employees
When Coverage Begins and Ends

The date your coverage begins depends on your status of hire. If you are a full-time or full-time seasonal employee, you and your eligible dependents are covered on the first day of the month following 30 consecutive days in paid status, provided you have health benefit contributions reported to the ASEA Health Trust on your behalf.

• For example, if you begin work on October 10, you are covered on December 1, assuming you have no periods of leave without pay and you do not terminate your employment during that time.

If you are a part-time employee, you and your eligible dependents are covered on the first day of the month following 30 days in paid status. You must elect coverage within the first 30 days of employment and have health benefit contributions reported to the ASEA Health Trust on your behalf in order for your coverage to begin.

When you return to work from leave without pay or from a layoff, you are covered starting the first day you return to work, as long as you and your employer make health benefit contributions to the ASEA Health Trust. Your dependents are eligible at the same time.

If you are a seasonal employee, you may defer coverage for one or two months.

Other rules apply. See the When Coverage Begins section of this site; refer to the Eligibility section of the Plan Booklet for additional information.

If you take leave without pay or are laid off, your coverage ends on the last day of the month in which you were last in paid status, unless you are a seasonal employee who deferred coverage.

• For example, if you worked or were on paid leave status on January 15 and then placed on leave without pay or laid off, your coverage ends on January 31.

If you terminate employment or move to a nonparticipating unit, your coverage ends on the last day of the month in which you worked or were moved out of this bargaining unit.

• For example, if you last worked in May 15, your coverage ends on May 31.

Coverage for dependents ends on the same day that your coverage ends, with a few exceptions. See the Eligibility section of the Plan Booklet for details.

New Employees
Changing Your Benefits

Normally, you may only change your benefit selections during Open Enrollment. However, if you or your family has a qualifying event at any other time of the year, you may change your benefits by contacting the ASEA Health Trust Administrator and changing your benefit election. You must do this within 60 days of the qualifying event.

• If you fail to change your election within 60 days of the qualifying event, you will have to wait until the next Open Enrollment period to make a change.

Qualifying events include:

• Marriage
• Birth or adoption of a child
• Divorce or legal separation
• Death of a dependent
• Dependent ceases to be eligible or gains eligibility
• Loss, gain, or significant change in spouse’s coverage. Exception: HCRA elections may not be changed following a change in the benefits under the spouse’s coverage or the cost of that coverage
• Declaration of an open enrollment period by the Board of Trustees
• Changing from full-time to permanent part-time status or vice versa

If you wish to make an appeal to change a benefit election you made when you first enrolled, submit your written appeal along with any supporting documents to the ASEA Health Trust Administrator’s office. You must submit your appeal no more than 45 days after the first payroll deduction resulting from the Plan election. The Trustees will review your written appeal at their next regularly scheduled Appeals meeting. They will notify you by letter within 30 days of their decision.