Employees can change health plans and add or remove dependents from their plans from Oct 25 to Nov. 5 during City of Hope’s open enrollment period.

Open enrollment, held once a year, is the only time faculty and staff members may change their plans without restrictions. At other times during the year, employees may only make changes if they get married, have a child or experience other similar qualifying life events.

City of Hope has enhanced several parts of its 2011 plans and added new ways to enroll online. Among the changes:

Disability

Long-term disability coverage provides income after short-term disability coverage expires. The maximum amount employees can receive under the long-term disability plan will increase from $9,500 to $22,500 per month.

City of Hope will now cover the entire premium for this plan (which pays 60 percent of salary) for all benefit-eligible employees. Employees currently enrolled in long-term disability “buy-up” coverage will no longer need to pay for the plan.

The short-term disability plan weekly maximum benefit will increase from $2,192 to $3,462. City of Hope continues to pay the entire premium for employees.

Dental

Aetna is the new insurer for City of Hope’s preferred provider organization (PPO) and dental maintenance organization (DMO) plans. Aetna’s PPO will cover 80 percent of the cost of basic services performed by a network dentist instead of the previous 50 percent. Aetna subscribers in both plans will receive an identification card.

Those enrolling in the DMO must select an Aetna dentist online, even if their current dentist is on the Aetna network.

Medical

All three plans will cover the entire cost of eligible preventive services with no copayments or coinsurance if using in-network providers. All plans will have an unlimited lifetime maximum. Also, employees’ children can remain covered under the medical plan until age 26.

Copayments for emergency room care, hospital care and brand-name prescription drugs will see modest changes. Copayments for the most heavily used services — office visits and generic prescriptions — remain unchanged. Premiums will see modest increases or stay about the same depending on the plan selected.

Flexible Spending Accounts

Employees may contribute up to $5,000 each to accounts covering health-care and child-care costs. All unused funds at the end of the year will be forfeited. Over-the-counter drugs will no longer be considered eligible expenses under the health-care spending account without a doctor’s prescription.

Current flexible spending account elections do not carry over into 2011. Anyone wanting to set aside money in 2011 must make that election online during open enrollment.

Enrollment

Employees can enroll from any computer, whether at work or away from City of Hope, at https://oe.coh.org. Complete instructions are available in benefits materials recently mailed to employees’ homes.

The new online portal contains full information about benefits, including plan summaries and links to insurance carriers, all in one place. For help on enrollment, call Benefits and Employee Services, ext. 62228, Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., or attend a help session.