The Illinois Department of Central Management Services (CMS) has established that newly benefit-eligible employees will have 30 calendar days to elect health/vision, dental, and optional life insurance coverage for themselves and their dependents, or make an election to opt out if full-time, or waive coverage if part-time. Required documentation must also be submitted within 30 days. Full-time and part-time employees who do not make an election within the 30-day period will be defaulted into the Quality Care Health Plan and the vision/dental plans without the option to enroll dependents.
It is strongly recommended that newly benefits-eligible employees register and attend a University Payroll & Benefits (UPB) Benefits Overview Session and a State University Retirement System (SURS) Webinar.
Employees can visit the MyBenefits.illinois.gov website, administered by the State of Illinois, powered by Telus Health, for plan information and to make plan elections.
The CMS election deadline is in force regardless of whether the benefit-eligible jobs are in Banner or whether new employees can access the New Hire Benefit forms in System HR Services.
As stated, when employees make insurance coverage elections, they have the same 30 calendar day period to supply dependent or opt-out documentation. If dependent documentation is not received within the CMS timeline, dependents will not be added to coverage.
During this initial time, important communication will be coming to the employee by postal mail from UPB, CMS, and SURS. We ask departments to please remind their employees to update mailing and email addresses in System HR Services as soon as possible.
