Open Enrollment Presentation Recordings

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00:00:00:00 - 00:00:20:15
Unknown
My name is Gordon Barker and I am part of the benefits team here at Cornell University. I'm joined by a number of colleagues from my team, Amanda Jemison, Emily Bruce, so busy cogs and we have some important guests from Aetna, Carey Allen, Melanie Walker and Tori Bell.

00:00:20:17 - 00:00:43:24
Unknown
Carey and Melanie and Tori. I promised them they would get a chance to speak, and so we'll have them help us out in just a few slides, but I will kick it off. Welcome, everyone, to the Cornell University. Open enrollment at retiree informational meeting today. We're going to share some hopefully very valuable information on our retiree health plans here at Cornell.

00:00:44:01 - 00:01:21:00
Unknown
Our population attending this seminar or webinar is a little varied, so we will be talking first about benefits in retirement, our current plans and what's happening to them, our health care plans, what's happening to them with one one renewal. And then at the very end, if we have anyone on who is not yet a retiree from Cornell but is is trying to gather information, we'll have a couple of slides at the very end for how you transition into retirement, but we'll keep those at the end so that the rest of the population who's already retired can leave us.

00:01:21:02 - 00:01:44:07
Unknown
So let's kick off the presentation. Let me show you what we're talking about today. So we are going to start talking on what's changing for 2024. There not a lot of changes, but we want to share with you some added benefits in a number of our plans. We'll also talk about what's happening with our utilization and our premiums going into 2024.

00:01:44:09 - 00:02:12:03
Unknown
Before we start, I just want to mention that if you have questions as we go along, we would ask that you put them into the Q&A portion of this webinar. You see there's a button down at the bottom of your screen that says Q&A. And if you add your questions there, the team will review them and we'll try to cover them within the presentation if we can or will have a question period at the very end also.

00:02:12:05 - 00:02:40:04
Unknown
So we'll start with what's changing for 2024 and then we'll dig into the plans themselves, our pre 65 retiree health insurance plan, and then we'll start talking about post 65 coverage, how Medicare works and what plan options we have at Cornell. Then we'll transition over to how to make changes for 2024. And again, we'll have a really valuable point of time for questions and answers.

00:02:40:06 - 00:03:10:18
Unknown
Then we'll talk about transitioning For anyone who wants to stay on transitioning from active to retiree. So Pat Show today, So I'm going to jump into the next slides. So what's changing for 2024 this year? We have some really important news to share on some added benefits in each of our plans. So we're going to start on the left hand column here, what we call our page plan.

00:03:10:20 - 00:03:36:13
Unknown
That's our pre Medicare health plan. So if you left us and are between the ages of 55 and 64, this would be the plan that you're in. Or if you have a spouse who's in those age brackets, this is the plan They would be in a couple improvements in this plan that are really important to notice. A number of our health plans historically for active and retirees have been about rehabilitative services.

00:03:36:13 - 00:04:06:03
Unknown
So when someone loses the ability to do something, helping them get that ability back, what we're pleased to see added in a number of our active and retiree plans this year is habilitation of therapy related to physical needs, speech needs, occupational needs. And so we've added habilitation of therapy into our to non Medicare Advantage plan. There was already some coverage in the Medicare Advantage.

00:04:06:03 - 00:04:24:16
Unknown
So this is primarily a change for the pre 65 and the 8020 plan and again, rehabilitative physical speech and occupational therapy for those who were perhaps born or developed a condition that took away an ability for certain physical activities or speech

00:04:24:16 - 00:04:46:08
Unknown
We're also adding an autism variation on this benefit. So adults or children diagnosed with autism, similar to our active plans, our pre 65 plan is adding some coverage there and you'll hear us talk about ambulance services in a couple of plans today for the pre 65 plan.

00:04:46:10 - 00:05:18:14
Unknown
Just want to clarify that both emergency and non-emergency ambulance use will be covered now with a 90% reimbursement after deductible, but it will be covered in and out of network. So if you're taking if you're using an out-of-network ambulance service, that 90% could be a little bit Yorkshire could be a little bit higher. When we talk about the pre Medicare health plan, because keep in mind, this is the only insurance plan that's covering individuals not yet Medicare eligible.

00:05:18:16 - 00:05:42:20
Unknown
We did see a fair amount of utilization shown over the past year. We look back over the last two years, but over the past year in particular, a real spike in utilization. Because of that, we still are committed to providing very affordable care to our retirees. And Cornell is still picking up 90% of individuals coverage here, a little bit more than 90%.

00:05:42:22 - 00:06:18:05
Unknown
But we do need to share some of the cost increases that are going to go into effect in January of 24. So if you have individual retiree coverage, the base cost for this plan is going up about $6 a month, about 73, $74 a year for family coverage. It's about $31 a month. But as we're talking about these increases in coverage, I want to point out that you shouldn't forget, for most retirees, they have a sick leave credit that is still applying sick leave credits.

00:06:18:05 - 00:06:42:20
Unknown
When you leave, Cornell, continue with you for the rest of your life. And so with a sick leave credit calculation for individual coverage, this addition can be potentially offset more by your sick leave credit everyone should have received. I'm hoping by now a package from Aetna to their homes that talks about the plan coverage is in much more detail than we're doing here.

00:06:42:22 - 00:07:10:00
Unknown
And included in that package is your individualized calculated rate, which takes into account your sick leave credit. So again, for rates I can't that we're just talking about additional to the overall cost here. Your rate will be determined based on your sick leave credit for the retiree 8020 plan and the Medicare Advantage plan. We'll talk more about this in a few minutes.

00:07:10:00 - 00:07:43:09
Unknown
But keep in mind, Medicare is the primary carrier for retirees who are Medicare eligible. Then we have plans that basically add on to that Medicare coverage. So we'll start first with the retiree 8020 plan. I mentioned rehabilitative therapy under this plan that affiliated therapies, therapy for speech, physical needs, occupational needs is covered at 80% after deductible in this plan actually had a pretty good year or 24 months of utilization.

00:07:43:11 - 00:08:07:02
Unknown
So we're pleased to say that this plan is only going up by less than a dollar a month for an individual and just a little bit over $4 a month for a family. Same note here, though, about sick leave credit. This is the increase in overall cost, but sick leave credits can reduce that based on your own individual sick leave credit base.

00:08:07:04 - 00:08:33:12
Unknown
Finally, we'll go over to the Medicare Advantage plan. Again, this is for folks who have chosen this special mapped plan. We'll talk more about it. It's offered through Aetna and it covers both your Medicare benefits for Part A and B, your prescription benefits and some added benefits. So under the MAP plan, something that's new for 24 is a big benefit.

00:08:33:14 - 00:09:08:20
Unknown
This wasn't covered under map D before. It's now available if there is hair loss due to chemotherapy, it's a $0 co-payment and you can receive up to $400 reimbursement against the cost of a wig. Now this is new under MPD plan. Just want to point out this note down that for both the pre 65 and 8020, the coverage is for various diagnoses and it can be up to $1,000 reimbursement per wig, but it's also subject to co-insurance and deductible.

00:09:08:22 - 00:09:37:21
Unknown
Something else that's added as of one one under the AMA PD plan. Over here is the emergency transportation. The emergency transportation now is going to be covering you for both in the US and international coverage so you can be reimbursed for emergency transportation usage. There is, under this plan a $25 co-pay and then the balance would be covered under the plan.

00:09:37:23 - 00:10:01:23
Unknown
The other important note that's a little bit different for Medicare Advantage this year. We just want you to watch your mail. So in addition to the Aetna package you received probably in late November, up to mid-December, you'll start to get new Medicare Advantage ID cards. These cards are being issued new, but it does not change any of the aspects of the plan.

00:10:01:23 - 00:10:25:00
Unknown
It doesn't change your ID number, but we just want you to be on the lookout that these new cards will be coming in for the Medicare Advantage plan. Again, here we look at our experience and the experience across the populations enrolled in this plan. And we did see a need to increase costs for both Cornell and for retirees under this plan.

00:10:25:00 - 00:11:07:11
Unknown
Individual coverage overall, prices going up a dollar 43 a month. Family 717 a month. And again, the same sickly credit message is important to understand. Your sick leave credit is calculated for you on your premium and in the Aetna documents you received, it will confirm what your costs will be for 2024. So there's are changes again, other than utilization, which I know it's always hard to have any kind of increase increase in costs during our retiree years, but we're very pleased to be able to offer additional services and keep the very comprehensive plans that we have for our retirees.

00:11:07:13 - 00:11:33:22
Unknown
So let's drill down a little bit and talk about those plans. We'll start by talking about the pre Medicare health plan. And people are under this plan. If you're a retiree who is younger than 65 and not in any other way, Medicare eligible or enrolled, it's also covering spouses, domestic partners or dependents who are younger than 65 or not get Medicare eligible.

00:11:33:24 - 00:11:57:10
Unknown
So keep in mind at Cornell, we look at the ages of you, your spouse and any dependent children, and that determines the plan options that you have. Just a reminder about how the pre Medicare, the pre 65 plan works. As we go through this slide, I'm going to define a few terms and then we'll see these terms as we talk about the other plans also.

00:11:57:12 - 00:12:33:22
Unknown
So let's start with this. Deductibles, firm annual deductible. A deductible is the first expense in a calendar year that ends up being your responsibility. And so that means this deductible has to be met before any reimbursement will come from your insurance policies. For the Cornell plan, the pre 65 plan in-network if you're using in network services, there's a $150 individual deductible and a $300 family deductible, and that resets each calendar year.

00:12:33:24 - 00:13:04:22
Unknown
So going into 2024, as it starts, you may see that you have an initial cost for claims that are submitted because you do need to meet their deductible. Now if you choose to go out-of-network. And this would mean the vast majority of physicians that were physicians and facilities that we offer within the country that are in, you could choose to go to a physician or facility that doesn't accept that insurance, in which case your deductible is a little bit higher, $300.

00:13:04:22 - 00:13:31:02
Unknown
The first $300 for an individual, the first $600 for the family unit before the plan would start paying benefits. So deductible. Think of this as the first of the year. For most people, those first expenses very often will go to fulfill the deductible after the deductable. All is in that you have a plan design that covers either percentages of costs or with copayments.

00:13:31:02 - 00:13:58:18
Unknown
So you have a share in the cost. The concept of out-of-pocket maximum is a security blanket almost for us in these plans. Out-of-pocket maximum means in a calendar year, the most that you would ever have to pay for allowed services. So we talked about deductible being the first thing you're responsible for when we talk about copayments or coinsurance is as we'll talk about in the next couple lines.

00:13:58:20 - 00:14:24:05
Unknown
As you pay those, those credits go against a pool of your out-of-pocket maximum. So a good peace of mind for our retirees. As you know, if you're an individual who's using in network services, the most you would have to pay in a calendar year is $2,000. After you've matched that to that out-of-pocket maximum, the plan would cover at 100%.

00:14:24:07 - 00:14:48:03
Unknown
So it's 2000 for individual, 4000 for a family. If you go in network, it's slightly higher if you go out of network. So keep in mind, this isn't something you know you're going to pay. This is just the cap on how much you would have to pay if you had a lot of services in a calendar year. So let's look at services.

00:14:48:09 - 00:15:14:11
Unknown
So first, if we talk about seeing a primary physician or a specialist or in-network specialists or primary physicians under the pre 65 plan, it's a $20 co-pay with no deductible. So each time you visit, it's $20 and then the rest is covered at 100% by the plan. Similarly, as we talked about before, if you choose to go out of network, you're out of pocket.

00:15:14:11 - 00:15:35:12
Unknown
What you will pay will go slightly up. So we really encourage you and all of our plans to try to find participating in network doctors wherever possible. If you do need to go out of network to see a primary physician or a specialist, keep in mind the plan is going to be picking up 80%. You would be paying 20% of the cost.

00:15:35:14 - 00:16:06:07
Unknown
And that is after you meet these deductibles that are listed above. Most other services within the plan have a straight formula. So in-network for anything that's not a primary office visit. Basically, there's a 10% cost share. Once that deductibles then met and the plan pays the balance. Similarly, if you go out of network, there's a 20% cost share and the plan pays the balance.

00:16:06:09 - 00:16:30:19
Unknown
When we talk about prescription drug coverage and I'll come back to this again a little bit later in the presentation, we don't want our retirees picking plans based on prescription drug coverage. So we've been working very carefully to make sure that our prescription coverage is similar across all of our retiree plans. So we're going to start here in the pre 65 plan.

00:16:30:21 - 00:16:53:17
Unknown
Basically, our program is set up to allow you to get up to a 30 day supply at the retail pharmacy that you attend physically or you get mail order on certain medications. If you are able to get those in a 90 day supply. We have a kind of a break in the cost for you. So our pharmacy benefits work in a three tier system.

00:16:53:19 - 00:17:28:15
Unknown
If you are diagnosed and need to have a generic prescription filled. Those are the the most reasonably priced and still applicable across physicians needs for plans. Generic prescriptions will cost you $5 at the pharmacy for a 30 day supply or a $10 if you use mail order for a 90 day supply. And I know I'm talking just to my pre 65 attendees today, but these are going to look very familiar because it's the same design if you're in one of our post 65 plans.

00:17:28:17 - 00:18:02:10
Unknown
So generics would cost you $5 retail $10 mail order for two months, three months supply only a two month payment. The second tier is our preferred brands. These are drugs that are primarily created by one major manufacturer and they're considered to be the preferred provider of those drugs. If you get a preferred brand drug, you will pay $30 for the 30 day supply at the pharmacy or $60 for a 90 day supply through mail order.

00:18:02:12 - 00:18:31:08
Unknown
Finally, what we call non-preferred brand here, but I'd like to call it something slightly different when we talk about this third tier, this non-preferred brand. This is when there are multiple manufacturers of a drug, but one or two of them produce the same drug at a much lower cost. That one or two would be put into the preferred brand category and all the others that make the exact same drug but at a higher cost would be considered the non-preferred brand.

00:18:31:08 - 00:18:54:07
Unknown
This is part of what's called the formulary and that gets set every January one and July one. So within the formulary, if you end up taking the most expensive drugs when there are alternatives, you pay more. You pay $50 at retail for a 30 day supply and you pay $90 for those three at three months supply through mail order.

00:18:54:09 - 00:19:38:10
Unknown
So this has not changed from prior years. You just wanted to share it with you. Again, just as a recap of our plan design. So let's do a little bit of a discussion now for the other folks in our population today, those who are over 65 who are on Medicare. So this again, is for retirees, 65 or older who are Medicare eligible for those spouses, domestic partnership dependents who are 65 or older, Medicare eligible or for anyone under 65 that might become eligible for Medicare because of Social Security, disability insurance or any other kinds of qualifying event that puts them into Medicare.

00:19:38:12 - 00:20:04:22
Unknown
So post 65 plans, we have two plans to talk about. But before that, I'd like to just talk a little bit about Medicare. So you are probably receiving this time of year. We all seem to get them tons of information in the mail telling you they know the best coverage for you. They've got Medicare plans. They've got all sorts of things that they're offering you, and it can become very confusing.

00:20:04:24 - 00:20:38:08
Unknown
So we want to cover a little bit about Medicare plans and then talk about how they work within our retiree coverage. So as many of you already know, Medicare Part A is a federal government plan created that we pay into through tax dollars. And Medicare Part A basically covers hospital costs. And for our retiree plans, Medicare Part A is an important component in the whole plan that we offer, because if you're over 65, Medicare pays first.

00:20:38:10 - 00:21:02:23
Unknown
So Medicare Part A helps with hospital costs. This one is free. You don't pay for this. As a retiree, Medicare Part B is the portion of Medicare that covers tests and labs and physician costs. Medicare B is what you do pay a premium for to the government, and that premium may be paid directly by you or might be coming out of your Social Security pension.

00:21:03:00 - 00:21:29:21
Unknown
Part B again, for our plans, an important component if you're over 65 because they pay first before our plan benefits kick in. Now there are certain plans. We put them under private here. I just give you a little bit of counsel on these. So there is a part of Medicare called Part C, and that actually is the part of Medicare that covers Medicare Advantage plans.

00:21:29:23 - 00:21:54:04
Unknown
So just want to be very clear. We're going to talk about an Aetna Medicare Advantage plan as something we offer to post 65 retirees. And we'll talk more about it. But the thing to remember is that one plan acts as Medicare for people enrolled in it. So the Medicare part A and part B costs are covered under that plan.

00:21:54:06 - 00:22:19:18
Unknown
In addition, under that plan, what's considered to be a part D cost, which is prescription drugs, is all covered under a medicare Advantage plans. We'll talk more about our plans and where drugs fit in and that sort of thing. But just so you know, from the nomenclature Part C are these very special combined plans. Part D is something that traditional Medicare didn't cover for a number of years.

00:22:19:18 - 00:22:44:16
Unknown
It's their coverage for prescription drug plans. And again, we're going to talk about our plans and how prescription drugs are covered. So they're not technically a part D plan that you'd be buying from the government. We'll talk about how that works. And then you may hear things mentioned about supplement plans that try to fill in gaps. Again, we'll talk about our plans and give you a couple of cautions.

00:22:44:18 - 00:23:08:19
Unknown
If you're thinking you're going to pursue one of these plans that you get in the mail or online. So let's using that as a background, talk about our actual plans. So we offer two options to our retirees who are aged 65 or older. The first is our retiree 8020 plan, and basically the 8020 plan works with an Aetna network.

00:23:08:20 - 00:23:37:19
Unknown
So we have Aetna doctors across the country and you can use any licensed doctor or hospital. There's no restrictions on it. But Medicare, because they're going to pay the first portion of this does have restrictions. So for Medicare is portion Medicare strongly encourages you to find a doctor who accepts Medicare because that's the first and sometimes larger portion of your bill.

00:23:37:21 - 00:24:00:22
Unknown
So if we think about it, there's almost a two plan or three plan process for those. And we'll talk about this in a minute. There's Medicare portion, there's the 8020 portion, and there's prescription drugs. So it's important to understand how each of those parts work. You're not required to pick one physician under the 8020 plan. You can go to any physician's at any time.

00:24:00:24 - 00:24:31:06
Unknown
Basically, Medicare is going to cover again a lot of the hospital stay. But this 8020 coverage gives some additional coverage on hospital stays. There's no waiting periods when you go into the 8020. So if you were to switch into it from another plan, one one, you get coverage right from day one. And what's important is a difference in the 8020 plan is international coverage is there for both medical and non-medical emergencies.

00:24:31:08 - 00:24:59:15
Unknown
So that's an important component for some of our retirees who might be spending a considerable amount of time abroad. We'll talk about that in relation to the Medicare Advantage. So those are kind of the basics. Again, no changes here on what it's covering, but just wanted to cover the basics of this plan. So I kind of mentioned this once before, but let's let's cover it in a different visual.

00:24:59:17 - 00:25:27:07
Unknown
So when we're talking about taking the 8020 plan, you really have four different components. You have Medicare Part A who's going to pick up your hospital bills first, you have Medicare Part B that's going to look at lab fees and doctors bills first. Then you're you're going to have the retiree 8020 plan. That's also going to look at those bills to see if it will pay anything more than Medicare paid.

00:25:27:09 - 00:25:52:05
Unknown
And then our fourth piece of the puzzle is our prescription drug coverage. Now, it's important to know under the 8020 plan, you do end up with three ID cards. So most people who enroll in Medicare have a medicare card. It tells that they're enrolled in Part A and part B Occasionally, this is asked for at physician's offices, not so much anymore.

00:25:52:05 - 00:26:16:04
Unknown
They really want to be able to protect their identity. And so very often they can just look you up pretty quickly and tell that you're on Medicare. But you do have that Medicare card. You also have an Aetna ID card for this 8020 plan. And that's going to be important to show your physicians also so that your doctor's office, where possible, will do all of your billing in the right order for you.

00:26:16:06 - 00:26:54:15
Unknown
And then separately, under this plan, you continue to have an Optum prescription drug card. If you've left our active service recently or within the last ten years or so, Optum has been your prescription drug card as an active employee. And this same card, the same benefit is applied to retirees in the 8020 plan. So when we talked about a minute ago about who's first, keep in mind I did this this arrangement on 8020, Medicare Part A and part B pays first and then the Cornell retiree 8020 plan pays second.

00:26:54:17 - 00:27:19:12
Unknown
The concept of this plan, if you look at the name up here, 8020 is in combination of Medicare and the Aetna portion, you should be getting reimbursed for 80% of your costs, with 20% coming back to you as a responsibility. So that 8020 is just like our active plans, just like many plans across the country, they're going to pay 80% of the cost.

00:27:19:14 - 00:27:49:00
Unknown
Now, there is another aspect to this. You could sign up with Medicare Direct, and Medicare Direct can make the claims processing a little bit easier because your Medicare portion and your Aetna portion can all be submitted for you and to each location. And Medicare Direct just in case you're not familiar with it or not enrolled in it, and you're already in the 8020 plan, you can enroll in this through Aetna.

00:27:49:06 - 00:28:23:08
Unknown
You would call a specific number at Aetna or you can go online with that and you can work through this process to connect your plans so that when there are expenses, they can automatically be submitted to Medicare first and then paid by the plan. So let's talk about the second option for our 65 and older Medicare eligible retirees, and that is the Medicare Advantage plan, the Aetna Medicare Advantage plan that also has prescription drug coverage.

00:28:23:10 - 00:28:50:20
Unknown
So let's go back to that. Since we just talked about a puzzle piece. Let's talk about them again here. So what's what's happening in Medicare Advantage is everything works together. And Aetna processes. So Aetna is in an agreement with the federal government to be a medicare Advantage provider, which means they take on some of the responsibility that the government would do through the Medicare programs.

00:28:50:22 - 00:29:21:14
Unknown
So there is one ID card that you use and now is to process what normally would be paid by Part A and part B They do that work for the government. It also includes the prescription coverage that would normally be Part D, and then there's some added benefits that are in for Medicare Advantage. Medicare Advantage has doctors and hospitals more than a million in the US network and more than 4000 hospitals.

00:29:21:16 - 00:29:45:19
Unknown
But this is another important thing for Medicare Advantage. To get benefits from the plan, you need to use doctors who don't just accept Medicare but accept Medicare Advantage. And that's pretty easy for them to tell you. So if you were going into this plan, if you're in this plan, you really want to find providers who are Medicare Advantage providers.

00:29:45:21 - 00:30:21:13
Unknown
So there are certain additional benefits that comes in addition to part in Part B, That's why we see additional benefits here. So there's health added advocacy programs, there's some in-home nursing visits to kind of evaluate your home. There's personalized support. All of those are baked into this coverage and it does provide coverage when you're international. But the difference between this plan and 8020 is coverage international generally under MPD because of the Medicare rules will only be covered as it's an emergency situation.

00:30:21:15 - 00:30:48:08
Unknown
So emergency non-emergency covered under the a20 specifically emergency internationally covered here. Just talking about international, if you're spending some time abroad. So let's take a moment and kind of compare these two plans. I get this question every year. I've been doing these for seven people say, is Cornell trying to push me one way or another? We are not.

00:30:48:08 - 00:31:06:12
Unknown
We we enjoy that. You have choice. We want you to have choice. So let's talk about these post 65 choices you have. I know this chart looks a little busy. I'm going to try to make it as as clear as we can. We're going to talk about some that we talked about a few minutes ago on the pre 65.

00:31:06:12 - 00:31:36:02
Unknown
So I'll just reiterate those. What you see here is the retiree 8020 plan, and that works after Medicare and B, make their payments. It comes into this plan. And then we have over here the Medicare Advantage plan. It's a PPO, which means it's a preferred provider network. And that's why you see in-network costs versus out-of-network costs. So let's start with deductible.

00:31:36:02 - 00:32:00:20
Unknown
Our old friend, the money that you pay first in a calendar year before the plan will pay anything under the 8020 Medicare plan, there is the first $550 of expense each year. Is your responsible money. So it will it will track that for you. It will know when you've hit it, and then payments will start coming from the plan.

00:32:00:22 - 00:32:32:03
Unknown
If we compare that to the Medicare Advantage because of its unique relationship and design with the government, there is no deductible, in-network or out-of-network on the Medicare Advantage plan. So that might be a consideration for you. As you think about the two plans, let's talk about out-of-pocket maximum. Remember, this is if something really catastrophic happened, if you had a lot of expenses, what's the most you would have to pay in a calendar year?

00:32:32:05 - 00:33:05:02
Unknown
Here's where there's a bit of a difference. Also, remember, there's a deductible first under the 8020 plan and then your cap for out-of-pocket expenses is another 3000. So $3,550 on this plan is the most you would have to pay out-of-pocket in a calendar year. No. On the Medicare Advantage plan, you will see that those numbers are higher. So the cap on what you would pay is higher, but it's also providing a little more coverage in certain areas.

00:33:05:02 - 00:33:23:15
Unknown
So you wouldn't have as much out of pocket. But it is an important thing for you to think about. If you look back over the past year or two, if you had been a retiree that long, look at what your costs have been and this would be for some people a deciding factor on this, I think I need to have that cap lower.

00:33:23:17 - 00:33:49:15
Unknown
I might want to consider this plan. No judgment here. I'm not giving you advice. Just you'd want to look at your own situation. One of the things that I think is so important to notice and understand from Cornell's plans, we do not have benefit plans for retirees that suddenly max out and say, you don't get any more coverage because you've used a lot of it in your retirement years.

00:33:49:17 - 00:34:11:00
Unknown
So maximum is is there a point at which the coverage will stop because you've used it a lot? And in each of our plans, that does not apply. That's going to be important. If you were to ever to go out and shop the market to see what somebody else was offering you, you really want to look lifetime maximums.

00:34:11:00 - 00:34:42:10
Unknown
They do exist in some plans that you would hit a cap and then you wouldn't get benefits anymore. Not in our plans. Okay. Specialty specialist care. Primary care Under the 8020 plan, if you go to a medicare doctor, you'd be responsible for 20% of the cost of that office visit under the Medicare Advantage. If you use an in network Medicare Advantage, remember, that's a specific network of doctors.

00:34:42:12 - 00:35:11:19
Unknown
You'd only pay $25 if you go outside that network. Similar to the 8020, you'd be responsible for 20% of the costs. Now, when we talk about preventive services like those checkups, like those other services, you might get to ensure good on the 8020 plan, those are covered with a 20% co-pay, but you don't have to meet the deductible first.

00:35:11:19 - 00:35:40:19
Unknown
So those kick off right away, but your share is 20%. And as far as those types of services, there is a maximum on what you would you would receive in the plan. So that's a two year maximum resets every two years. So we talk about preventive services under the Medicare Advantage, no cost to you if you use a medicare Advantage participating doctor, if you go out-of-network, it's 20%.

00:35:40:21 - 00:36:07:08
Unknown
And just as you receive on the 8020 plan. So we've tried to build this over the years, you're going to see that this column for out-of-network is going to be pretty similar to the 8020 plan. So the advantage scenario is that pan of Medicare Advantage is certainly in the in network doctor costs that are in this column. So other services pretty standard for the 8020 plan.

00:36:07:08 - 00:36:39:16
Unknown
Remember the concept is insurance is 80%, you pay 20%. So when we talk about inpatient hospital, outpatient hospital, E.R., urgent care, ambulance and diabetic supplies, 20% is your share of that cost. The rest is picked up by the plan through Medicare and Aetna. If we look at those lines, as you see under Medicare Advantage, they vary a little bit and they vary often very different, very greatly in the Met and the in-network out-of-network.

00:36:39:18 - 00:37:22:21
Unknown
So if you're inpatient at the hospital you on and you go to a medicare Advantage participating hospital, $250 is the flat payment that you would owe regardless of how long you stay. If you go out of network, you're going to pay 20% for the cost during your whole stay outpatient. We mentioned 20% over here. So if you're just doing some outpatient quick in out services and you're using a medicare Advantage in network solution, No dollars out-of-pocket in-network, 20%, you pay out-of-network E.R. services.

00:37:23:02 - 00:37:56:02
Unknown
MPD, we said was 20%. If you use those services under Medicare Advantage, it's a flat $50. Whether you go in network or out of network, it's urgent care rather than emergency room. You go to an urgent care facility, 8020 again, 20% co-pay. If you go to in-network urgent care under Medicare Advantage, $25 copay if you go out-of-network also $29 co-pay.

00:37:56:04 - 00:38:29:20
Unknown
Ambulance 20% here, $25 in network at Medicare Advantage and 20% cost share. If you go out-of-network diabetic supplies covered under the 8020 at 20% you or your share. If you use life scan products, they're considered the in-network solution and mapped based no cost share. But if you use another service, it's 20% again similar to the 8020 have skilled nursing facilities.

00:38:29:22 - 00:38:57:17
Unknown
Let's talk about these a little bit skilled nursing facilities. There is a certain level of care that's needed. And so this is not nursing home, This is not hospice. This is where there's an actual medical service being delivered. So skilled nursing facilities under the 8020 plan, there's a 100 day maximum coverage and you pay 20% the cost for those 100 days.

00:38:57:19 - 00:39:30:03
Unknown
Under MPD, there's still the 100 day maximum, but you pay nothing for the first 20 days and you pay $75 for the remaining days, up to 177 out-of-network 20%. And you see a pattern here. There's a lot of 20% cost shares here. Now, prescription drug coverage, we're going to come back to this. But just the difference between the two plans is not the plan design, but the difference is who's handling the claims.

00:39:30:05 - 00:40:00:24
Unknown
So for 8020, it's through Optum with an optumrx x drug card, through Medicare Advantage, it's through the Medicare Advantage card. But again, we'll talk about specifics of those drug plans. Let's talk about a couple claims examples, and I will spend a little bit of time on this. I know we're down to the last 15 minutes or so, so when I want to cover these fairly quickly, these are just point in time examples.

00:40:00:24 - 00:40:31:03
Unknown
These may or may not ever apply to you. But in going to a physician's office, we're going to compare the 8020 plan to the Medicare Advantage. So let's say that the cost for the lab work there was $500 for the visit and the lab work. Medicare under the 8020 would cover $360, would allow $350 as a charge and would cover that at $280.

00:40:31:05 - 00:41:01:14
Unknown
In this case, the 8020 plan, if you've already met your deductible, would pay $70 for that. So that plan so there's no cost in this particular scenario. On the Medicare Advantage side here, let's say that the cost was $475. Medicare only allows to 85 and they pay to 60 of it. You can't be balance billed between the difference.

00:41:01:19 - 00:41:29:20
Unknown
So cost is just the difference between what they allowed and what they paid. So in this example, $25 under Medicare Advantage in hospital confinement, if you have to stay in the hospital. And here again, we're just talking about the hospital costs, not any doctor's visits, other services within that hospital under the 8020 plan. In this example, cost of the hospital state was $40,000.

00:41:29:22 - 00:42:03:09
Unknown
But Medicare only allows 32,000. And now that they pay $30,368 in this particular case, because 80% was already allowed and covered, there's no payment from the plan. So in that hospital stay example, the retiree pay one $632. Again, it's hard to look at this because we don't have days listed. There's a lot more nuance to this, but it gives you the concern about what would happen.

00:42:03:09 - 00:42:34:16
Unknown
It would be 81, the Medicare Advantage plan. Here. We're talking about a cost of $35,000. Medicare allowed 21 and paid 20,750. In this case, under Medicare Advantage, the member would owe $230. If you you're thinking about changing plans. If you're thinking about whether now is the time to go to a different plan for January, I'd really encourage you to look at your services over the past year.

00:42:34:16 - 00:43:09:23
Unknown
What have you had to have occur? What did you pay out of pocket? And then compare that to how the other plan would work. I covered this before, but I want to cover it really high level. Again, just to restate the obvious, we don't want you picking a post 65 plan because of your prescription drug design. So what you'll see in both the 8020 and the Medicare Advantage, the design for from Cornell is the same no deductible under either plan.

00:43:10:00 - 00:43:31:17
Unknown
If you take generic drugs, it depends on whether you take it retail from the pharmacy, get it sold retail or get it mail order. That's $5, $10. The same on either plan preferred brand. We talked about that being the kind of a major supplier at the best cost. That's going to be 30 or $60 regardless of the plan.

00:43:31:19 - 00:43:57:01
Unknown
And then if you go outside that to a more expensive drug, 1590 the same and either plan our plans be very specifically designed at Cornell. So there was no donut hole, there's no gap in this coverage. You get this coverage throughout the calendar year. A couple things that you should consider, because every drug plan is a little bit different.

00:43:57:03 - 00:44:24:17
Unknown
And that would be if you're on drugs that require prior authorization or if they're going to limit how much you can get at a time that's quantity limits or if they're going to say you need to go through a process to get to the preferred drug, these are important aspects in any drug program. So again, if you're thinking about a change, you should pull together your list of medications.

00:44:24:19 - 00:44:53:20
Unknown
Contact the Navratri Service Center and have them clarify how those drugs are covered in each plan. So those are just important things to think about. If there's something special with the drugs you're taking. So at this point, I want to invite Carrie Allen and Melanie Walker back. I want to have them walk through the process with Aetna on how to make open enrollment changes for 2024.

00:44:53:22 - 00:45:14:18
Unknown
Carrie, Melanie, can you join us again? Yep, we're here. Thanks, Gordon. Okay, I'm going to drive for you, so just tell me if I go too slow or too fast. So how to make changes, right? Retirees, This information is in packets that you got in the mail, too, but we want to reiterate it here. Okay, great. Thank you, Gordon.

00:45:14:18 - 00:45:33:01
Unknown
Hello, everybody. Thank you for having me here today. I do want to start off saying that if you are happy with your current coverage, you do not need to do anything. Your coverage will continue into 2024. But I'm here today to help you if you wish to make a change for 2024, now is your time to do it.

00:45:33:03 - 00:45:55:01
Unknown
And as Gordon said, we went through both of the different plans that are offered, but our retiree service center is happy to help you if you have questions as you're thinking about your benefits for 2024, the customer service representative, they're also happy to help you look up providers to see which plan with Aetna that your providers are contracted with.

00:45:55:07 - 00:46:20:09
Unknown
And they're there from Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. across all time zones. You're also welcome to use our public retirees site to look up doctors on your own. And you could always ask the billing department at your provider's office. I know when I go to my doctor, they usually ask me for my insurance, They ask for the company name and they ask for the plan name.

00:46:20:09 - 00:46:42:14
Unknown
And then they usually know right away or not if they participate. So when you go online, you can go to Aetna retiree plans dot com. You actually can even just go to Aetna dot com as well and that is where you can find a directory of our doctors and be able to look that information up online. So we want to make it easy for you.

00:46:42:15 - 00:47:15:12
Unknown
You can do it yourself online or you can give us a call. Okay next slide. Gordon So open enrollment is happening right now. It actually opened on Monday of this week and you have until November 17th and you can call the Aetna Retiree Service Center if you want to make enrollment changes or you can go to the retiree benefits website if you want to make changes, if you've already set up your account, you would access the site that you see here on the screen.

00:47:15:12 - 00:47:41:14
Unknown
Aetna retiree health dot com slash Cornell and you would enter your username and your password once on the site there is a banner along the top for open enrollment and it reads select your benefits. Now and that's where you would review your benefit information and where you can elect your changes for 2024. Now, I know we have a variety of folks on the phone today watching our presentation.

00:47:41:16 - 00:48:06:22
Unknown
If you've not yet registered for the site and you do need to register, you would visit the website that's showing here on the screen Aetna retiree health dot com slash Cornell you would choose register now and you would complete the registration fields in order to do your registration. It's important that you enter your first name and your last name as it appears on your enrollment materials.

00:48:06:24 - 00:48:35:06
Unknown
For example, if you're enrollment was addressed to Robert but you go by Bob, you would actually use Robert in your registration process. And then after you complete your registration, you'll have access to the website and you won't need to go through the registration process again. Next time you'll log in using your username and passwords. And also your eligible dependents can log in under the retiree account to access the website.

00:48:35:08 - 00:49:02:19
Unknown
Also, once you're enrolled, you can set up your payment options. You have many different options for paying your premium. You can pay by checking or savings account. You can pay each month or set up monthly payments. You can also use a debit or credit card and also pay each month. Or you can set up automatic monthly payments or you can pay by check where you get a paper bill in the mail each month and payment coupons.

00:49:02:23 - 00:49:23:07
Unknown
Or you can go online and do bill pay. You would set up this option through your bank and your bank would send the payment on your behalf. And if you set up reoccurring payments from your bank account, debit card or credit card, the payments are processed on the fifth of the month after you set up your authorization for that.

00:49:23:09 - 00:49:45:24
Unknown
And as a reminder, the Retirees Service Center, the phone number is listed on the screen here today, can also help you in setting up your reoccurring payments for you. And just one more reminder. If you do not make a change, your benefits will renew for the plan that you have now. Okay, Gordon, I have one final item that I just want to bring to your attention today.

00:49:46:01 - 00:50:13:10
Unknown
As an Aetna member, you have access to a wealth of information online. So the website that I just showed was for making your enrollment changes and setting up payments. But you also have a different website where you can go on and see your Aetna information. So if you're already enrolled with us and you haven't set it up yet, I would highly recommend registering for your Aetna Secure member website.

00:50:13:12 - 00:50:41:03
Unknown
Once you register, you set up a username and password. When you use this site, you'll see your specific benefit information and that's a large company. We have a lot of plans and when you access your site through this website, it'll eliminate all the other Aetna benefits that are out there and give you just your benefits. So you view your claim status, you can see explanation of benefits statements, you can look up a provider from here.

00:50:41:03 - 00:51:01:03
Unknown
You can even print a temporary ID card or request a replacement. And you also have access to set up an app on your phone. If you would like to do that. We have the Aetna Health app where you're able to log in right through your phone as well, using the same username and password.

00:51:01:03 - 00:51:13:09
Unknown
So we're going to just jump through these last couple of slides to transitioning for anyone who's considering trends or who's coming up on a transition from active to retiree.

00:51:13:11 - 00:51:42:07
Unknown
Some important timing considerations. About three months before you retire from Cornell, you do need to meet with the benefits office. You do also need to begin your process for enrolling in Medicare Parts A and B if you are 65 or older or otherwise Medicare eligible about one month before retirement, you should have your Medicare Part A and B and if resolved, you can have the effective date the next month.

00:51:42:07 - 00:52:07:07
Unknown
But you really want to make sure it's all set up before you move to retirement after the first of the month following when you retire is when your retiree health care plans kick in. So, again, picking those plans with Aetna is going to be very, very important to do before their effective date. You get an enrollment booklet from Aetna.

00:52:07:09 - 00:52:39:12
Unknown
We do that for pending retirees. So once we notified them of your separation, you will get information from them. One thing to keep in mind, if you qualify as a retiree when you move to retiree status, Cornell doesn't want you to have a break in coverage, so we will automatically default you into the 8020 plan. You still have a period of time in which you can choose to change that to, the Medicare Advantage within 90 days of retirement.

00:52:39:14 - 00:53:02:21
Unknown
But we want you to have coverage. So we're going to put you in the 8020 plan, effective the first of the month following your retirement and then using the plan they mentioned a little bit earlier today. But Aetna will produce invoices for you or you can set up automatic payment, that sort of thing to happen to make this process run a bit smoother.

00:53:02:23 - 00:53:32:22
Unknown
And remember that once your health care coverage change is as a Cornell retiree, the next time you go to the doctor, you're going to want to show them your new cards so they don't continue to bill your active health plan. So we like to say, you know, there's really important stuff no later than three months before retirement. But we have lots of people come to us to start attend ten sessions and that sort of thing as much as six months before.

00:53:32:24 - 00:53:57:14
Unknown
And then a couple of quick things as a reminder to comparison of coverage. If you're transitioning, remember that as far as coordination of benefits if someone has an active health plan, at the same time they have a retiree health plan, the active health plan is primary, except if you're still active and you're over 65, we don't require you to enroll in Medicare.

00:53:57:14 - 00:54:36:05
Unknown
You shouldn't be sending claims to Medicare while you're active and an active plan for active health. Just a reminder, there's three choices each year for retiree health. There's one plan for pre 65, two choices post 65. As far as the doctors and networks, whether you're in our active plans or in our retiree plans, you've heard us say a number of times you want to make sure that your doctor is at all possible, is participating in the active plan you're in, and then you want to make sure you understand if they're participating in Medicare or Medicare Advantage.

00:54:36:07 - 00:55:02:22
Unknown
On the retiree side, if you're over 65, we take your premiums from your paychecks while you're active. You end up paying through Aetna Retirees Solutions when you're no longer active. But Aetna has they're just different areas and it has customer service groups dedicated to you both during your active coverage years and your retiree coverage. So I know we covered it really quickly.

00:55:02:22 - 00:55:32:18
Unknown
We spend a lot of time talking to retirees in transit or active people in transition. So you want to follow a little bit. There's a retiree website on Cornell's website. So that's also there to kind of help you through the process. So I do want to thank everyone for attending. Thank you. My apologies for going over, but we wanted to cover your questions and get to your answers.

00:55:32:20 - 00:56:03:13
Unknown
And again, for the individuals that we couldn't get to your questions, please, now that those can go through the Aetna Retirees Service Center. And with that, I am going to thank you all. Did you all a good day and we look forward to seeing you on other side of retiree open enrollment with coverage. 411. Thank you. Thank you to our Aetna partners for presenting and answering questions.

00:56:03:13 - 00:56:12:01
Unknown
Thank to our h.r. Benefits department for processing this through and for me. I thank all of you and have a great day.

[Transcript auto-generated.]

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:09:04
Unknown
And without further ado, I'm going to turn it over to Melanie. Melanie, thank you for joining us today and welcome. Great. Thank you.

00:00:09:04 - 00:00:16:21
Unknown
Good morning, everyone. So the presentation just want to give you a little bit of high level information, what we're going to go through this morning.

00:00:16:23 - 00:00:25:24
Unknown
So we're going to do some quick open enrollment reminders. We're going to go through product overview of the spending accounts that are available with Cornell.

00:00:25:24 - 00:00:47:01
Unknown
Talk a little bit about the pay flex card, how to use it requirements on just certain information you may need. We're going to spend a little bit of time on the member website just giving you some overall functionality as well as the mobile app, and then get into tools and resources available to you as a member.

00:00:47:01 - 00:00:58:04
Unknown
If you join one of the programs and as Michelle mentioned, any questions, you know, put them in the Q&A and towards the end of the presentation we can review those for everybody.

00:00:58:04 - 00:01:19:21
Unknown
So just some quick open enrollment reminders for this year. So Cornell University's open enrollment runs is in process from 1030 until 1117. And this is for all coverages, elections 411 2024 really important you to participate in the 2024 FSA programs.

00:01:19:21 - 00:01:48:07
Unknown
You must enroll during open enrollment. So this is an election every year your 2023 election does not automatically reenroll you outside of this open enrollment time period. Changes are allowed to your election, but those can only be made with a qualifying invite life event during the year. How to Enroll Enroll through Cornell's workday site. And that needs to be done by 4 p.m. Eastern on November 17th.

00:01:48:14 - 00:01:56:04
Unknown
So we're going to begin the the presentation with reviewing the flexible spending account also called Medical care. FSA.

00:01:56:04 - 00:02:16:06
Unknown
So medical care FSA accounts are really available to help you offset financial cost of your eligible medical dental vision, prescription expenses during the plan year. Things that you pay out of pocket for also allowed are certain over-the-counter purchases as well.

00:02:16:08 - 00:02:37:04
Unknown
So per the IRS, what's really important is an FSA, a medical FSA is a lose it or lose it program, meaning you must use the total amount elected that you'd like for the plan year, or you will forfeit the remaining balance at the end of the year. Now, there is an exception to this rule and that's called a carryover provision.

00:02:37:06 - 00:03:15:11
Unknown
Cornell does offer a carryover provision that allows you to carry over $610 and that's in place today from the 2023 plan. You're if you're in the plan today into the following year, if you're unable to use your full elected amount during the plan year for 2024, currently that amount is still $610 for carryover. However, the increase has not yet been confirmed by the IRS, so that $610 could potentially go up for elections for 2024 each year.

00:03:15:11 - 00:03:46:19
Unknown
You have until April 30th to submit for reimbursement for any claims incurred from that prior plan year. So this means any claims incurred and eligible from your 2024 plan election can still be submitted for payment up until April 30th, 2025. And just a quick reminder, if you are participating in the high deductible health plan with an open HSA account, you are unable to participate in the medical care.

00:03:46:19 - 00:03:47:18
Unknown
FSA.

00:03:47:18 - 00:04:23:00
Unknown
little bit more information on how the medical care account works. So at the beginning of the year or during open enrollment, you determine the amount of money you'd like to set aside on an annual basis. And this is taken out of your paycheck in equal increments for the entire year on a pretax basis. What I typically recommend people doing is really kind of going back maybe a year, review your medical, dental, pharmacy vision out of pocket expenses over the last few years to determine the amount that is best based on you and your family needs.

00:04:23:00 - 00:04:43:19
Unknown
Because, again, you just want to make sure that you have that you're looking at what your total is to make sure you're not you have a expenses that will go towards that election for a medical care account. All of your annual contributions are available on the very first day of the plan year, even if you've not had all the funds.

00:04:43:19 - 00:05:13:21
Unknown
Obviously taken out of your paycheck at the beginning of the year. So this is an this is an awesome benefit of part of this program. So if you do have a large expense early in the year, you can pull out the entire election amount. If it's eligible for 2024. Currently, you can contribute up to $3,050. An increase typically comes through the IRS, and that has not been confirmed yet for the 2024 plan year.

00:05:13:23 - 00:05:27:20
Unknown
So right now that amount is 3050. And then as mentioned previously, you do have Cornell's carryover provision that does give you that additional amount that, if not used, can carry over into the following year.

00:05:27:20 - 00:05:39:01
Unknown
If you enroll in a medical care spending account, you're going to receive a pay flex debit card. So if you're a first time participant to the plan, you'll expect to get a debit card in the mail.

00:05:39:03 - 00:06:06:17
Unknown
And the PayPal debit card is a way for you to pay for eligible expense expenses out of pocket through the program. You don't have to use it, but it is a convenient part of the program. If you do use the card, however, you just want to be aware that there are some IRS requirements around the use of the card and in some instances you may be asked to provide supporting documentation to verify your card expense.

00:06:06:19 - 00:06:34:17
Unknown
Paychex does work behind the scenes to verify what we're able to, but it is always important to keep all your receipts associated with the card in the event that you're asked to provide verification information and you'll receive a request when information is being requested by PayPal X In some instances, if verification is not provided, your card could be temporary and activated until documentation has been provided.

00:06:34:17 - 00:07:04:22
Unknown
So just a reminder, make sure you're reviewing any requests from pay facts PayPal asks and for any details or questions, you can always review that on your PayPal X account or by calling us directly, we'll get a little we'll get into a little bit more details on this topic in the next few slides. But just a reminder, if you are a first time participant in one of our programs, you will get the card you want to activate it, and that way you have the card available for use.

00:07:05:02 - 00:07:29:09
Unknown
If you move from one pay flex program to another during open enrollment. So if you are maybe in the high deductible HSA and you may be going out of that program for 2024 and moving into the medical plan, that card will continue to work. So behind you would switch it over to whatever new program you are with Pay Flex.

00:07:29:11 - 00:07:35:00
Unknown
So it does have a five year expiration. So hang on to that card if you do have one today,

00:07:35:00 - 00:07:54:06
Unknown
a little bit more information about potential requests for documentation. So again, it's really important to save all your detailed receipts, any kind of itemized statements and especially explanation of benefits, because the IRS requires that we verify all card purchases as eligible.

00:07:54:08 - 00:08:17:00
Unknown
There may be instances, as mentioned, where we ask you to send documents to use for verifying that expense. So if you do need to verify, you'll see this on the website and you'll also get a request for documentation letter. In addition, you can set yourself up to receive debit card alerts. So just kind of a good reminder in the event that you do need information

00:08:17:00 - 00:08:27:22
Unknown
quick tip to help prevent requests for documentation, use your card for payment after your insurance confirms the final amount that you have to pay.

00:08:27:24 - 00:08:42:23
Unknown
Don't use the card for estimates or pending amounts because those are not typically final dollar out of pockets. So if you can, the best thing to do is to wait until the end and then use the card for the balance.

00:08:42:23 - 00:08:51:17
Unknown
When you do get a request for documentation, the best form is for documents is the explanation of benefits from your insurance provider.

00:08:51:19 - 00:09:07:04
Unknown
You can also send, again as an alternative, a detailed receipt or an itemized statement. But it must show a couple of things like data service, provider description, and the final amount. Again, the out-of-pocket that you have to pay.

00:09:07:04 - 00:09:16:08
Unknown
Keep in mind, again, I mentioned this previously, but we can accept documents with either a pending or an estimated amount due.

00:09:16:10 - 00:09:22:16
Unknown
And that's again, because that does not give the actual full finalized out of pocket expense.

00:09:22:16 - 00:09:59:02
Unknown
wanted to just kind of go through real briefly a couple slides to show you how to assist you with on the website with a request for a debit card verification because all this information is found on your website. So after you log in and you'll see the arrow on the left side, you'll see where you can go right into your account dashboard, and then you'll have a card transaction view account details link at the bottom of the page from there, when you have card transactions that potentially need to be verified as eligible, you'll see this tile pop up

00:09:59:02 - 00:10:03:09
Unknown
that'll say verify card purchases. And so you're just going to click right on that.

00:10:03:09 - 00:10:18:22
Unknown
This page will bring you to anything that may need to be verified to resolve your. You're just going to click on the description or the view for that card purchase, and then this will take you right to the transaction details page.

00:10:18:22 - 00:10:30:08
Unknown
So in the gray box, you'll see you have a couple options to resolve anything that might be unverified and you just click on verify card purchase and that will walk you through the options available.

00:10:30:10 - 00:10:55:18
Unknown
So you can upload documents, you can choose to fax as well as if you are participating in the Cornell Aetna Medical plan. Those claims feed over to pay flex and they are under your pay flex number website so you can actually go out and just click on a connected claim that we may have on file under your account and you can use that for verification.

00:10:55:21 - 00:11:01:11
Unknown
It's really a very easy process. And again, that's available under the Aetna medical plan.

00:11:01:11 - 00:11:08:05
Unknown
So now I'm going to spend a few minutes talking about the next spending program. And this is the dependent Care FSA.

00:11:08:05 - 00:11:27:12
Unknown
So dependent care FSA works a little differently than the medical care account at two totally different accounts. These funds may be used for child care for children aged 12 and under, as well as eligible elder and adult care for the child care.

00:11:27:12 - 00:11:59:07
Unknown
You and your spouse must be working full time or seeking full time employment in order to qualify for the child care claim. The purpose of the child care benefit cannot be for primary educational purposes, but it can be for things like a daycare or a camp that provides an educational component. So typically eligible expenses include things like preschool, summer day camp, or those before and after school programs.

00:11:59:09 - 00:12:10:19
Unknown
So it's a simple way for you to save money again on a pretax basis, allowing you and or your spouse to continue to work and care for those dependents

00:12:10:19 - 00:12:29:17
Unknown
or the dependent care account expenses need to take place or be incurred during the plan. Year 2024. However, Cornell has what's called a grace period provision that allows you to continue to incur expenses through March 15th, 2025.

00:12:29:19 - 00:12:58:18
Unknown
That will still apply to that 2024 plan year. So it just gives you a little additional time to incur and submit those expenses so that means you have from January 1st, 2024 through March 15th, 2025, to use your dependent care selection for anyone that's electing the 2024 plan year. And then note that you also have until April 30th to submit any claims from that specific plan.

00:12:58:18 - 00:12:59:07
Unknown
Your

00:12:59:07 - 00:13:20:03
Unknown
SO the dependent care account definitely works differently than the medical care as the funds must be available in your pay flux dependent care account in order to be available for payment. So if you remember the medical care, all of your election dollars were available at the beginning of the year, regardless of whether you had taken those deductions yet.

00:13:20:03 - 00:13:27:08
Unknown
But with the dependent care, you do have to have your contributions in the account in order for you to utilize your account.

00:13:27:08 - 00:13:48:05
Unknown
The maximum contribution per the IRS is $5,000 per plan year. That has not changed over the years. And again, the purpose of the dependent care is for you and your spouse to have the ability to continue to work while your dependents need to be taking taken care of.

00:13:48:05 - 00:14:00:08
Unknown
Anyone that has the child care grant and an FSA dependent care that you're electing, those totals cannot exceed the $5,000 annual maximum allowed per year.

00:14:00:08 - 00:14:09:22
Unknown
So now I'm just going to going to go through high level some of the number tools available. If you do elect one of the or both of these programs through Cornell.

00:14:10:01 - 00:14:42:12
Unknown
So our member website. So through PayPal scam, it's easy for you to manage access, really important information and also reach customer service. So what's great about the program or about the website is you can again, you have a lot of transaction availability, but you can also just have a high level overview of what is in your account, what's available, what are some of the dates that you need to pay attention to the begin date, the end date, eligible expenses, things like that.

00:14:42:18 - 00:14:52:07
Unknown
You can also review your balance information and also any deposit information that's put in that account is viewable on your member website.

00:14:52:07 - 00:15:06:11
Unknown
If you log in, you're going to go right to your PayPal account dashboard and then you'll see on the left hand side kind of all the different areas that you can go into. We have a help and support section under account settings.

00:15:06:11 - 00:15:31:02
Unknown
You can set up notifications and then you'll have very specific information about the particular account that you may have joined in the program. Alerts and news are posted out there as well as any specific documents forms that you may need for the program. If you want to get into transactions and claims that you may have done already, you can click on The View account detail

00:15:31:02 - 00:15:35:06
Unknown
and that'll bring you to a second page.

00:15:35:08 - 00:15:45:18
Unknown
And again, this is your account details page that you can access claim history to do items and transactions and view and submit claims

00:15:45:18 - 00:16:09:14
Unknown
under account settings. As mentioned, you can manage your own specific notifications. So if you want to set up alerts, maybe you're getting, you know, you want an alert that says I'm getting close to my limit or my election amount, you can set up all kinds of alerts specifically to how you want the program to work, and you can get those to mail, text or online capabilities.

00:16:09:16 - 00:16:27:22
Unknown
You can also through the account settings, link a bank account. So in the event maybe you're submitting a dependent care claim and you want those funds deposited right into your own bank account, you can just link a bank account and once that claim is processed, it'll go right into that account that's on file.

00:16:27:22 - 00:16:39:12
Unknown
The PayPal mobile app works very similar to the website, and what we've tried to do over the last couple of years is really make the functionality as similar as possible.

00:16:39:12 - 00:17:10:22
Unknown
Just knowing, you know, a lot of people just like to use the app as an option. So again, similar to the website, as mentioned, you can manage your account funds, you can pay yourself back through that site. What's great about the mobile app is say you're in the dependent care and you want to submit a claim. You can take a picture of those receipts right from your phone and you can upload those right into the mobile app as the process for the claim submission.

00:17:10:24 - 00:17:20:11
Unknown
And again, you can view purchases and verify card transactions directly through that app. It's available both through Android and Apple use as well.

00:17:20:11 - 00:17:51:02
Unknown
So if you get into the mobile app from this screen available, the flexible spending account, you can see again very similar views as the the member website, what you've spent, what's remaining the available funds. It's all kind of visual on a graph and it's also going to carry over those important reminders so that you can always stay kind of in the know about where your dollars are and making sure that you use those funds before the end of the year.

00:17:51:04 - 00:18:26:21
Unknown
As mentioned, the the mobile app really makes, I think, filing a claim easy. So if you are using your debit card or if you're in the dependent care program, you can, as mentioned, upload supporting documentation or just take a picture. And it's a great way to just submit a claim directly through the mobile app functionality. We talked a little bit earlier about verifying some of those card transactions and available on the mobile app is also the functionality to verify a card transaction.

00:18:26:23 - 00:18:47:06
Unknown
So it's really easy. And again, take a picture and if you need to verify it's an expense, you can go in and it will allow you to upload documents, even to apply a medical claim or connect a claim. It's the same functionality as what you find on the website. But again, it might just be easier to do it on the mobile app.

00:18:47:08 - 00:18:52:11
Unknown
So verifying any requests for card transactions is available through the mobile app.

00:18:52:11 - 00:19:10:12
Unknown
And then the only additional piece on the mobile app that I'm going to mention is we do have a barcode scanner. So whether you're in a store, so if you're walking through a pharmacy or at home, you can basically utilize the barcode scanner to determine whether something is.

00:19:10:12 - 00:19:34:24
Unknown
And a health care expense is an eligible item under the program. So what's great about this is you just basically scan it with the barcode and it will tell you whether it's an IRS eligible expense. So it's a nice little tool in the event, especially when you're getting towards the end of the year and maybe you're looking for things that you can utilize and spend down on your election dollars.

00:19:35:04 - 00:20:06:16
Unknown
Member tools and resources. Just really quick, I'm going to highlight the help and support section of the website. It's a great area to explore common eligible health care expenses as mentioned. So if you go into the help and support, you're going to have a tile that will provide explore common health care expense information right here. You can type in a particular expense or an item and it will tell you whether it's eligible or not.

00:20:06:18 - 00:20:17:18
Unknown
So again, just another kind of quick and easy way for you as a member to determine what can and can't be covered or allowed as an expense under the medical program.

00:20:17:18 - 00:20:31:09
Unknown
We understand that not everybody, when they need information, likes to call in. So there's a couple of different ways you can reach us, and I'll give you some additional information as we move forward.

00:20:31:11 - 00:21:01:04
Unknown
But we have call obviously calling into our customer service. But we also have the ability, if you want to just email or chat the representatives for any specific questions you might have. So again, if you're in the member website and you click on your help and support, you're going to see that contact us section. And once you're in that contact section, it'll give you the ability to email us or again chat the representative during the regular business hours.

00:21:01:04 - 00:21:05:24
Unknown
So just another way to provide information in the event that you have questions,

00:21:05:24 - 00:21:12:02
Unknown
this just gives you the additional view, the live chat that's available again through the Help and Support section.

00:21:12:02 - 00:21:32:18
Unknown
The other great tool I think that's available is we offer what's called a CO browser feature. So if you're on the phone with one of our customer service representatives and they might want to guide you in website navigation, they can do this by asking you to provide a code.

00:21:32:18 - 00:21:54:21
Unknown
In that code would become live at the bottom of the screen where that little red arrow is. It'll provide you with a code. If you click on share my screen, that code is provided to the pay flex customer service rep and they will be able to see what you're seeing on your website. So the only view they have available is the website.

00:21:54:21 - 00:22:13:04
Unknown
So it's only a code browse based on what you're, you're in on our website. But what's great about it is they can kind of guide you through. So if there's another area of the website they might feel is beneficial for you, they can just guide you based on the fact that they're looking at exactly what you're doing on the website.

00:22:13:06 - 00:22:25:01
Unknown
So that's called our co browser feature. And it's it's, it's a great benefit for not only you as a member, but also for our call center reps, giving them the ability to do that and assist our members.

00:22:25:01 - 00:22:37:16
Unknown
And then finally, I just wanted to provide really quick information. So Pay Flex is currently we are going through a rebrand and that is going to be occurring in 2024.

00:22:37:18 - 00:23:05:11
Unknown
So our rebrand we will be changing to inspire financial as a name. You're existing debit cards will continue to work. Everything from a log in stays exactly the same. So whether you're going through PayPal, Dexcom or maybe you single sign on over from the Aetna website, it'll automatically route you, route you over to the new rebrand loaded website.

00:23:05:13 - 00:23:20:02
Unknown
So after you log in in 2024, you may see the logo and the color palette change. But again, the navigation content remains exactly the same to provide you the seamless number experience that you have today.

00:23:20:02 - 00:23:37:06
Unknown
And finally, in summary, just a quick reminder, you know, different ways to reach us like WSJ.com, the mobile, as well as our call center customer service that are available Monday through Friday, 8 to 8 Eastern, and on Saturdays, 10 to 3.

00:23:37:08 - 00:23:43:21
Unknown
In the event that you have any questions or need any additional information.

[Transcript auto-generated.]

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:28:19
Unknown
Good morning, everybody, and welcome to today's overview of Cornell's 2024 open enrollment. Today's meeting is intended to give you all the information you need to make an informed decision regarding your benefits plan. During our time today, we're going to review the open enrollment time period. What, if anything, is changing for 2024 and provide a high level overview of the plans that are offered.

00:00:28:21 - 00:00:48:14
Unknown
At the end, we will offer resources on where you can go for help and a Q&A session at the very end. For any of those who are considering retirement in the next year or so will provide a high level overview of the changes to the retiree health insurance.

00:00:49:05 - 00:01:16:21
Unknown
So open enrollment began on October 30th, and you have until November 17th to make your selection or changes for coverage beginning January 1st. If you're satisfied with your current medical plan, there's no need to take any action. However, this is the time to review and decide if you think that maybe another plan might meet your your needs better.

00:01:16:23 - 00:01:35:09
Unknown
And in addition, this is the time you can also add or remove dependents from your plan to make any changes to your plan. You're going to access the Cornell website at H.R. DOT Cornell Dot Edu slash enroll.

00:01:35:09 - 00:01:52:00
Unknown
So let's talk about what's changing for 2024 or 2024. We're pleased to announce several enhancements to the medical coverage provided under the various Aetna health plans, travel and lodging for services.

00:01:52:01 - 00:02:02:22
Unknown
When members must travel over a 100 miles is covered up to $10,000, and the infertility lifetime max has increased to $30,000.

00:02:02:22 - 00:02:36:07
Unknown
HSA contributions for 2024, the contribution limits increased for individuals from 3850 to $4150 and for families from 7750 to $8300. If you're 55 or older, by December 31st of 2024, you may contribute an additional thousand dollars. And now we'll review the changes to employee contributions.

00:02:36:09 - 00:03:07:22
Unknown
Thank you, Christine. So when we look at the cost of health care, Nursultan shared plans, we do look at the utilization of the plans over a two year period to determine a future cost and plan experience for 2024. We do have an increase and to have the pass on a slight increase to the employee premiums. However, with that being said, Cornell is committed to providing affordable health care and does cover a large portion of those increases, which is called the employer share.

00:03:07:24 - 00:03:38:03
Unknown
In fact, Cornell continues to pick up the employer share at roughly 90% of an individual plan and 82% for families. So your employee share does have an increase listed here. If you're in the high deductible health plan with an HSA, you'll see an increase of a dollar 58 to $16.74 a month. If you're in a clinical program for a healthy living plan, you'll have an increase of $3.60 to $24.89 a month in the well.

00:03:38:03 - 00:04:07:08
Unknown
PPO plan $6.62 to $36.66 a month. And you can review the full premiums under open enrollment pages as well as the page Christine just mentioned. Thanks, Christine. Thank you. So next, we're going to spend the next few minutes talking about the endowed health plans. There are three Cornell plans that are currently administered by Aetna. You have the Cornell Program for Healthy Living.

00:04:07:10 - 00:04:13:14
Unknown
The high deductible health plan with HSA. And the Weill Cornell Medicine PPO plan.

00:04:13:21 - 00:04:42:24
Unknown
Each endowed plan. This speech all the while Cornell and the high deductible offers both in and out of network benefits, meaning that you can choose to see what provider you would like to use. But using a doctor who participates in the Aetna network means you will pay less out of pocket. And you can see that displayed in the in and out of network columns for each plan.

00:04:43:01 - 00:05:15:15
Unknown
Each of the plan covers preventive care at 100% in-network with no deductible. There is coverage for telemedicine, and the HSA plan has a key differentiator in it that is compatible with the health savings account, which I'll go into more detail about shortly in the presentation. And then all three plans have prescription drug coverage offered through Optumrx six.

00:05:15:15 - 00:05:50:04
Unknown
So let's review some deductible and out-of-pocket examples in the Cornell program for Healthy Living. Peg is having a baby, and the total cost of Peg having a baby is $12,700. Between the cost sharing of the deductible, the copayment and coinsurance. The total peg would pay is $1,280. The next example we have Joe, who is managing his type two diabetes.

00:05:50:06 - 00:06:05:09
Unknown
The total cost for Joe is $5,600. Between Joe's cost sharing of his deductible copayment and coinsurance. Joe's total cost would be $920.

00:06:05:13 - 00:06:43:22
Unknown
In the wild PPO example of Peg having a baby. Again, the cost, the total cost is $12,700. Between Peg's cost sharing of the deductible copayment and coinsurance, the total peg would pay is $1,490. In the next example, again, we have Joe managing his type two diabetes and the total cost is $5,600. Between Joe's cost sharing of his deductible copayment and coinsurance, the total Joe would pay is $820.

00:06:44:05 - 00:07:20:23
Unknown
Now, with the high deductible health plan, with the HSA, the total cost for PEG having a baby again is $12,700. But between Peg's cost sharing with the high deductible health plan of her deductible copayment and coinsurance, the total peg would pay is $2,570. The next example again, we have Joe managing his Type two diabetes and his total cost is $5,600, with his cost sharing of deductibles, co-payments and co-insurance.

00:07:21:04 - 00:07:26:10
Unknown
The total Joe would pay is $2,170.

00:07:26:19 - 00:07:57:16
Unknown
So let's talk more about the Cornell Program for Healthy Living. Like all the plans, this is a comprehensive health plan that includes coverage for prescription drugs. You get access to Aetna's nationwide network of providers. This plan also features a wellness benefit to the Cornell Wellness Recreation Center and membership at no cost or a $15 monthly fitness discount at Island Fitness or YMCA of Ithaca.

00:07:57:18 - 00:08:07:08
Unknown
Additionally, when you enroll in this plan, you have access to an enhanced wellness exam. When you use an Ithaca based primary care physician.

00:08:07:13 - 00:08:37:20
Unknown
The high deductible health plan with the health savings account, like the two other plans, this plan offers medical and prescription coverage access through Aetna's national network. But this plan also includes a health savings account. The health plan covers preventive services at 100% outside of preventive services. You must meet the plans deductible before the plan begins to reimburse the cost of medical care.

00:08:38:08 - 00:09:11:17
Unknown
In addition to being able to deposit money from your paycheck into the health savings account, Cornell does contribute $1,000 a year to the HSA account. These funds, combined with your own deduction, can be used to pay for eligible medical expenses, such as your annual deductible. But because these accounts are regulated by the IRS, you must keep receipts to prove that you have withdrawn the money and used it towards qualified health expenses.

00:09:11:19 - 00:09:34:16
Unknown
If you use the funds in the HSA for nonqualified expenses, taxes and penalties do apply. If you're approaching 65 or otherwise eligible for Medicare, please be sure to understand how the HSA works as you cannot be enrolled in Medicare while contributing to an HSA.

00:09:34:23 - 00:09:59:18
Unknown
So you have the two components of this offering. You have the comprehensive medical plan and the health savings account, the health savings account is like a bank account where the funds in it are used towards the medical costs, the contributions made to the health savings account come out of your paycheck tax free. Any money in the account earns interest tax free.

00:09:59:20 - 00:10:31:18
Unknown
And if the money is used for eligible expense, that is not taxed as well. Unlike a flexible savings account, the money in your health savings account is yours and it does rollover from year to year. You do not lose it if you do not use it. You have complete freedom over when and how it's used. And again, with this plan, or if you're deciding to enroll in this plan, there are additional IRS and plan eligibility rules to be aware of.

00:10:31:20 - 00:10:44:04
Unknown
So for more information, you can visit the Cornell H.R. website at H.R. DOT, Cornell, Dot edu, or contact Tae Flex with specific questions.

00:10:44:06 - 00:11:20:13
Unknown
So now let's focus on the wild Cornell PPO plan. Again, this is a comprehensive medical benefits plan with pharmacy coverage. In addition to having access to Aetna's national Provider Network Network. You have expanded access to Weill Cornell Physicians located in New York City to search for a while. Cornell providers. We have set up a custom provider search tool that you can see here, or you can call the Weill Cornell Referral Center Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

00:11:20:23 - 00:11:34:21
Unknown
All Cornell plans cover preventive care at 100% when seeing an Aetna in-network provider out of network coverage is subject to the plan deductible and coinsurance.

00:11:35:05 - 00:12:09:09
Unknown
One of the best ways to ensure continued good health is to make sure you are getting the necessary preventive care that you and your family needs. Each of the Cornell plans cover preventive care, routine screenings, immunizations and mammograms at 100% without a deductible. If you use network providers to find a network providers that can administer the preventive care, you and your family need, you can contact Aetna or access the provider search tools on Aetna dot com.

00:12:09:16 - 00:12:38:12
Unknown
So everyone is at a different stage of their health and everyone has different preferences in terms of how and when they want to engage with their health care. Some prefer a live person over the phone. Others prefer self-service digital tools or live web chat. So we tried to make it easier by integrating our teams and tools together to better help you wherever and however you need us.

00:12:38:21 - 00:13:11:04
Unknown
Aetna Concierge helps you with whatever you might need. They're available through a single phone call, phone number, chat, or email. Our Aetna concierge service connects you to available programs, tools and resources to provide you with right solutions at the right time. So the CARE team representatives stand by to help explain benefits, Answer benefit questions. Walk you through some of our tools step by step at your convenience.

00:13:11:06 - 00:13:34:09
Unknown
And as an example, let's say you call and ask about your maternity benefits. After answering the benefit questions, the concierge may get a system alert that our maternity nurse had been trying to reach out to you. The concierge takes action and immediately connects you with the nurse. And this way, this helps to ensure that you have a healthy pregnancy and baby.

00:13:34:16 - 00:14:03:04
Unknown
24 hour nurse line. Sometimes your health question can't wait until your doctor's visit or even the next morning with the 24 hour nurse line. You can speak to a registered nurse about health issues that are on your mind whenever you need to. Of course, only your doctor can diagnose, prescribe or give medical advice. But the 24 hour nurse line nurses can provide information on more than 5000 health topics.

00:14:03:06 - 00:14:16:17
Unknown
They can help save a trip to the emergency room or make smarter decisions about your health care. Plus, it's toll free. You and your family can call as many times as you need at no extra cost.

00:14:17:03 - 00:14:44:08
Unknown
Now, whether you use the Aetna member website or the Aetna Health at our tools help empower your decisions. They can help you find and choose the right care at the right cost and so much more. You can use the provider search to find and compare in-network providers. You can access your digital ID card when you need it or you claim details and track and pay claims online.

00:14:44:10 - 00:15:05:10
Unknown
You can also view and understand your plan, coverage and benefit details which will help you make more informed decisions about your treatment options. In addition, we update the app regularly with new features. This helps us stay current and ensure you have access to the latest features and functionality.

00:15:08:21 - 00:15:34:14
Unknown
All right. Thank you. So we look at retiring from Cornell. We do have the eligibility for retirement, which is age 55 and ten years of Cornell accredited service. You do not have to be 55. You do not have to retire at 55, nor any time after 55. But we do know people do like to plan at least six months in advance with your H.R. department.

00:15:34:16 - 00:16:00:14
Unknown
And we do ask that you meet with our Cornell h.r. Services and transition center, which is in the benefit services department at least three months before retirement. There's various changes to your health insurance and other benefits you should be aware of. And i'm sure you have many questions on, you know, what comes after retirement. So for your retiree health needs, we do have different changes to what's called coordination of benefits.

00:16:00:16 - 00:16:35:00
Unknown
When you're actively working, your health insurance is generally primary for the active employee and most dependents, and that includes Medicare eligibility. So your personal health insurance is primary to any Medicare status while you're actively working. When you get ready to retire. You do want to begin the process to consider enrolling in Medicare A and or B If you did not enroll in part A when you turned 65, you're not required to.

00:16:35:02 - 00:17:04:24
Unknown
But when you're retired, your health insurance does move to a secondary status for Medicare, then becomes your primary insurer. And so you should have Medicare A and B if you're eligible into retirement, if you're retiring between ages 55 and 64 or you're not Medicare eligible. Medicare is not a factor. And so your Cornell retiree health insurance will continue as a primary insurer into retirement.

00:17:05:01 - 00:17:38:10
Unknown
So you do want to look at the timeline. Three months before retirement, you will start a service and services and transitions counselors to get everything established. And there are forms for Medicare. So about one month before retirement, you do want to make sure those forms have been completed and submitted to the Social Security Administration and confirm that you're enrolled in Medicare, Medicare Part D and B when you do transition, your retiree health insurance moves to the retiree plan the first of the month following your retirement date.

00:17:38:12 - 00:18:04:20
Unknown
So say you retire today, November ace your Cornell active plan will continue through the end of the month, and on December 1st you'll move to your retiree health insurance and December 1st is also when your plan will move to secondary status to Medicare. And Medicare should be in place at least by December 1st. So our plans do continue through the end of the month of your retirement date.

00:18:04:22 - 00:18:11:00
Unknown
And the next first of the next month is when you really want to make sure you understand the changes to your health insurance.

00:18:11:05 - 00:18:36:17
Unknown
Three months Post retirement. You should be getting an enrollment guide from the Aetna Retirees Solutions Center to your home address. This booklet does have enrollment plan information for your two plans that we offer for Medicare post retirement plans and your retiree pre Medicare health plan. If you're enrolled in your active plan, you'll be automatically defaulted into retiree health insurance.

00:18:36:19 - 00:18:59:06
Unknown
If you're not enrolled, you will have an opportunity to enroll in retiree health insurance. Or if you'd like to switch your plan for your Medicare options. You do have 90 days post retirement to make that change, or you can do that during open enrollment every year for retirees, which is also going on right now for our retiree health insurance.

00:18:59:08 - 00:19:24:17
Unknown
So when you do use your retiree plan and you're transitioned Medicare primary if needed, if not needed, your I.D. numbers may change. So you do want to make sure your doctors and your pharmacy providers do have your updated ID cards and information and your will be billed to your home by a monthly invoice that will be sent by Aetna Retiree Solutions.

00:19:24:17 - 00:19:52:02
Unknown
So you'll pay your premiums to Aetna directly once you're retired and you can make this arrangement online as well. And any questions regarding retiree health insurance, your bills, your invoices and coverage or claims questions? And a retiree service center is the administrator for retiree health plans. And there is a link here at the bottom that you can access once your registered in their system.

00:19:52:04 - 00:20:21:11
Unknown
So if you're thinking about retirement, we do have our retirement media and booklets on our website that can provide more information and our office will be happy to answer questions as well. If you want to transition, Christine to the next slide. So that was a lot of information. The timeline, generally three months before retirement, your retirement and post three months of retirement, you really want to understand the changes to your health insurance and Medicare statuses.

00:20:21:13 - 00:20:51:21
Unknown
So this table does provide just kind of the information that I've mentioned on active retiree health plans, coordination of benefits. Medicare really is a factor when you are retired or any other active plan if you're dependents or spouses or you have another active plan, they're generally a primary goal for a retiree plan. But Medicare is your primary insurer when you're retired, enrollment is required again in Medicare.

00:20:51:22 - 00:21:16:12
Unknown
So that is can be frightening to some people or complex. But it's simple. Our office will help you with that process and we can certainly do that. You will get a medicare card once you are retired, Medicare, red, white and blue card. So our plans available in retirement. So we have our three active plans that we talked about just in this presentation and a retiree plans.

00:21:16:12 - 00:21:31:20
Unknown
We have one pre Medicare health plan, that's the retiree pre Medicare and two Medicare based plan options to have the retiree 8020 plan and the retiree Medicare Advantage, both administered by Aetna.

00:21:31:20 - 00:21:42:19
Unknown
When you're looking into retirement there doctors that you see you want to make sure when you're retired as Medicare eligible your provider should be affiliated with the Medicare network

00:21:42:19 - 00:21:46:24
Unknown
and your payments, again, will be no longer deducted from your paycheck.

00:21:47:01 - 00:22:02:00
Unknown
They will be paid directly to the Aetna Retirees Solution Center and your customer service. We have an a concierge for active plans for your at Notary Service Center, both here to answer your health care questions.

[Transcript auto-generated.]

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:10:05
Unknown
thanks, everybody, for joining. And we'll go through the dental insurance. And like Michelle said, you can ask some questions in the Q&A feature.

00:00:10:07 - 00:00:37:12
Unknown
Tracy will be taking care of the some of the questions as we go through and we will save some of the others at the end so they can be read and we'll address them live. So, okay, first we want to start and talk about why the dental benefits are important, as we all know, and medical treatments and dental treatments can be expensive.

00:00:37:14 - 00:01:07:03
Unknown
So you have high costs of those dental treatments. And one of the things that this will focus on is getting you treatment at lower cost and covering portions of your treatment. And one of those that you'll see when we look at the the plan benefits is we offer, you know, that preventative care. And so the preventative care is one of the most important parts of the dental insurance.

00:01:07:05 - 00:01:32:18
Unknown
We like to make sure that you have a healthy mouth, healthy oral care. And we want you to maintain that. So there is a strong connection or correlation between good oral health and overall health. So as long as you are taking care of your teeth and your gums, you know you will have better overall health.

00:01:33:06 - 00:02:03:16
Unknown
So, again, understanding the the ties between that so many of the systemic diseases like diabetes, anemia, liver disease, Crohn's and some others, they all produce oral signs. So as you go into your dentist and have a examination or a cleaning, they can tell these things just from going in for that exam. So seeing that dentist regularly is going to help promote the early diagnosis.

00:02:03:18 - 00:02:28:22
Unknown
And that way you can treat things early and you can avoid those dental diseases and progression of dental diseases. And then, you know, if you are able to prevent things upfront, you will see a lower cost. If you let a problem go. The longer that that goes, the greater the effect is going to be and you may end up having some higher costs.

00:02:28:23 - 00:03:00:01
Unknown
I can tell you personally, I think that I had a a cavity and I think that in one of my teeth as many, many years ago had the cavity filled. And I don't believe at the time the dentist had filled this correctly or that the filling came a little bit loose. And had I gone in when I noticed that might not have had a problem, I let that go for about a year or so and I think the cavity became worse and became infected.

00:03:00:03 - 00:03:28:03
Unknown
I ended up having to have a root canal. Because of that. The filling came out and had I addressed it right away and might have only had to go back in, had a little drilling, and then we refilled the tooth. So personal experience, if I, if I would have addressed that early on, I would not have had to go in for a more painful and more expensive procedure.

00:03:28:05 - 00:03:59:16
Unknown
But the plans. So we offer the dental network. So you have this great dental network where the dentists that are accepted into the network, we have prescreened and we have negotiated with them. So MetLife works with those dentists to bring those fees down, typically 30 to 40%, depending on which dentist we're working with. And that's versus the going out outside of the network in the same area.

00:03:59:18 - 00:04:25:04
Unknown
Our network is a very large network and it is nationwide. So you do have the choice to see in network dentists or out of network dentists if you choose. But if you're on vacation and you chip a tooth and you are not near your primary dentist or the dentist that you like to see, you do have, you know, you'll be able to search that dentist wherever you are in the country.

00:04:25:06 - 00:04:52:02
Unknown
And you'll also see this other neat feature on there is the automatic access to international dentists. So if you are out on vacation outside of the country and you have there's more than 200 countries, we have this international Dental travel assistance program. And so if you have that, the need for emergency care while you're traveling abroad, MetLife can help you with that.

00:04:52:04 - 00:05:21:19
Unknown
And again, there's also easy access to pretreatment estimates. That is a great feature. If you are ever planning a more expensive procedure. Please do call. You can get these pretreatment estimates. I did have an individual on a webinar like this one time talk to me about their personal experience. They were in the chair at the dentist for the routine cleaning.

00:05:21:21 - 00:05:56:09
Unknown
The dentist was working through the cleaning and the examination and saw a problem they wanted to address. And because the person thought, Well, I'm already here. I have dental insurance, go ahead and do this. So the doctor, the dentist took care of it right then and there. And then a couple of weeks later, they get billed and they come to find out that the services that the dentist took care of was not covered under the plan and had the person access to this pretreatment estimate and asked the dentist to file a pretreatment estimate with MetLife.

00:05:56:11 - 00:06:15:23
Unknown
They would have found out that it had not been covered. So unfortunately, in that case the person had to pay out of pocket. So I highly recommend you have a procedure that's going to be a little more on the expensive side. Have your dentist double check the plan and have them ask for that pretreatment estimate. They can give that to you upfront.

00:06:16:04 - 00:06:44:03
Unknown
All right. So your benefit plan, I had talked about the importance of the preventative services. A couple of slides ago and we have the in-network dentists we're covering you at 100% of their negotiated fee. So when you do go in for the exams and up to four cleanings per year, the plan is covering 100% of that negotiated fee.

00:06:44:03 - 00:07:17:23
Unknown
So that is really great. And here we're talking about the standard plan. Should we mention this first slide will be the the standard plan if you do go out-of-network. Notice that the plan is going to pay on the reasonable and customary fee. So the easiest way to describe this is if your dentists in the area, the majority of dentists are charging, let's say, $100 for easy math for the cleaning.

00:07:18:00 - 00:07:51:02
Unknown
If you do see a dentist, if your dentist is out-of-network and they think that are cleaning in their services better than all the other dentists in the area, and they choose to charge $150 on that cleaning, we are paying that 90% of that hundred dollars because that is reasonable and customary. So if they're if you're seeing that dentist that charges the 150, there's going to be a larger out-of-pocket cost for you so that 90% will cover 90% of the hundred dollars.

00:07:51:04 - 00:08:19:04
Unknown
And then any remaining overage comes out of pocket. I always like to explain that because sometimes that does cause some confusion. You will see under the basic services, major services, you are covered under those negotiated fees there as well, both in and out of network. And again, our network percentages are lower and the service fees are higher. So you definitely will save money staying in network.

00:08:19:06 - 00:08:58:04
Unknown
Also, a great feature on this plan for you if you are going to those in-network dentists, you are not charged an annual deductible for the B and C services. So if you are going out of network, you do also have to meet that $50 individual deductible or $150 individual deductible only for the basic and the major services. So if you are having periodontal work or a more major surgery like a extraction, you will have that that deductible that you meet first.

00:08:58:06 - 00:09:10:11
Unknown
But in either case, you do have an annual benefits maximum and you are covered for for that annual benefits maximum pays out the $1,250 per person.

00:09:10:11 - 00:09:28:21
Unknown
With the orthodontia you are covered 50% in or out of network. And this has a separate maximum and it is a lifetime maximum. So that does not reset over the years. And the orthodontia is limited to children through age 18.

00:09:29:06 - 00:10:02:15
Unknown
You do also have available to use this dental plus program or a higher program that will offer you can see some higher higher annual benefits maximum here and higher percentages of the covered services. So everything we just talked about still applies. When you are in network, you are paying on the lower negotiated fee and you will see that the percentage in the out-of-network dentist type A in this plan is covered at 100%.

00:10:02:17 - 00:10:20:07
Unknown
Again, you still can incur some out-of-pocket expense. Again, that example of the dentist that charged a higher amount than all the other dentists in the network or in the area, rather. So we would pay on what is reasonable and customary in the area.

00:10:20:07 - 00:10:33:05
Unknown
With this plan, you do have a an annual deductible on the in-network dentists. So you'll see that $50 for the individual or 150 for the family.

00:10:33:07 - 00:11:08:19
Unknown
And now the real big change here is you can see that annual benefits maximum is up to $5,000 per person, whether you're in or out of network. So this is a great plan to choose. If you know you have some dental work you need to take care of in the year. So if you're going to be visiting the dentist for, let's say you have a tooth extraction or a root canal or a bridge or some other type of work, and you know, you're going to be spending more than that previous plan, 1250 maximum.

00:11:08:21 - 00:11:39:17
Unknown
This is going to give you that $5,000 maximum per person. So great to consider there. But you'll also notice that there is an increase in the orthodontia lifetime maximum. So that has gone up from the 1000 to the 2000 now. And this this plan also will allow adult orthodontia. So if you do have some orthodontia work you need for yourself, you can get that taken care of under this plan.

00:11:39:17 - 00:12:03:03
Unknown
under the standard plan or plus plan, depending on your pay periods, you have the 24 or 26 pay periods. And you can see that this has broken out where you can enroll for coverage for yourself only. Or if you wanted to enroll for you and your spouse or domestic partner, you or your child or you and the entire family.

00:12:03:04 - 00:12:17:03
Unknown
So that would be spouse, domestic partner and dependent children. And the premiums are deducted through payroll deduction on a pretax basis.

00:12:17:03 - 00:12:49:23
Unknown
when you are enrolled in the plan and you are looking to go out and find that, find a dentist that is participating. So you go out to the MetLife Ecom website and you can click on that, find a dentist directory. And once you do that, you're going to be able to enter your zip code in that box under the find a dentist annual click find, and that will give you a list of dentists in your area.

00:12:49:23 - 00:13:21:06
Unknown
We also have the digital tool that is available to you. So now you can review your coverage and estimate dental costs online. So that's available on the computer. If you go to the My Benefits website and you can also use the app as well, you do create a profile on the My Benefits website first, but then you have you can link that to your to your app.

00:13:21:08 - 00:14:02:10
Unknown
Now once you once you have the profile and again, you can estimate those costs. So there's that dental cost estimate or tool and you can read excuse me review personalized plan specifics and you can search by zip code to see the zip code cost estimates. And that will cover most of the common procedures. And then I think if you want a more full list, you can log into the My Benefits website or call in to MetLife and you can have a a greater look at me or a more detailed look at those benefits.

00:14:02:12 - 00:14:07:19
Unknown
That app is available on the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store.

00:14:07:19 - 00:14:34:16
Unknown
And to reiterate the open enrollment and for information that you may have seen a few times now. Open enrollment started on October 30th, and that is running through November 17th. So employees who would like to make changes to their dental coverage or enroll for the first time, you can do so during this open enrollment. The coverage and changes would be effective for the following year.

00:14:34:16 - 00:14:48:11
Unknown
So January 1st, 2024. And if you are a new hire, there is a qualifying. If you're experiencing a qualifying life event or are a new hire, you do have 60 days to enroll.

00:14:48:11 - 00:15:02:10
Unknown
So if you do have questions after this session, you can see that we have the Cornell specific site there. So WW W MetLife AECOM forward slash Cornell.

00:15:02:12 - 00:15:18:22
Unknown
You can view the plan information there or call this number that's one 800 9420854. That's a dedicated line for you. And you will speak to a benefits consultant that can answer those questions.

00:15:18:22 - 00:15:23:16
Unknown
And there we can show the the product disclaimers.

[Transcript auto-generated.]

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:19:24
Unknown
Thank you all for attending. You are in the education benefits session of the open enrollment webinars for the 20/21 season. The education benefits are not changing specifically in 2024, but we thought we would give you an overview of what is available to you as a Cornell employee for your education benefits.

00:00:20:01 - 00:00:29:08
Unknown
My name is Michelle Faith. I'm an associate with the health and welfare group of the H.R. division of Cornell. And today I'm just going to give you a brief

00:00:29:08 - 00:00:32:21
Unknown
overview of four benefits, which we have available.

00:00:32:21 - 00:00:56:09
Unknown
the education benefits we're going to talk on today will be the part time study program that's for courses available at Cornell, the employee degree program, which is if you would like to earn a degree at Cornell, the tuition aid program, which is four degrees you may be doing outside of Cornell, and then the Cornell Children's Tuition Scholarship Benefit, which is a reimbursement program for your children.

00:00:56:11 - 00:00:59:03
Unknown
And you're eligible depending on your time here at Cornell.

00:00:59:03 - 00:01:04:03
Unknown
So with all the education benefits, there are some eligibility requirements

00:01:04:03 - 00:01:21:15
Unknown
You must be, excuse me, in a benefits eligible position in order to qualify for the education benefits. There's some type of requirement based on your eligibility and start date. So that information I will give to you and you can also reach out if you have any questions about your specific eligibility for all the programs.

00:01:21:15 - 00:01:34:23
Unknown
There's also an application process. So we'll get that information out to you as well. As supervisor approval is needed at some of the courses. Some of the programs may be done during wartime. And so you will need to speak with your supervisor for approval.

00:01:34:23 - 00:01:40:10
Unknown
Our first benefit is the part time study program. So this program was formerly known as extramural.

00:01:40:10 - 00:01:50:22
Unknown
There may not be many of you who are here who still remember that term, but putting it out there so that if you did hear it, you understand it is the benefit that's now called the part time study program.

00:01:50:22 - 00:02:00:12
Unknown
In order to be eligible, you must be in a benefits eligible position upon hire and you will be eligible for the program starting with your date of hire.

00:02:00:12 - 00:02:05:13
Unknown
So if there's courses you're planning to take in that semester, you can upon date of hire,

00:02:05:13 - 00:02:13:06
Unknown
you're allowed to take up to four credits a semester. They do not need to be job related. And again here your supervisor's approval is needed.

00:02:13:06 - 00:02:19:01
Unknown
Now class time can be considered as time worked, but this is the discussion you need to have with your supervisor.

00:02:19:01 - 00:02:27:01
Unknown
So please make sure if you're thinking about enrolling in a course at Cornell through the part time study program, you have that discussion with your supervisor.

00:02:27:01 - 00:02:28:05
Unknown
Here is the link

00:02:28:05 - 00:02:37:15
Unknown
to our Web site that gives you more information on the part time study. And as I said, the presentation will be available after as a recording. So you will be able to see this link again.

00:02:37:15 - 00:03:01:08
Unknown
Now the part time study program while we in the h.r. Department do have some oversight of the program. We do not administer the program. So in order to enroll in courses or get information on the courses that are available through part time study, you'll have to contact the school of continuing education, and they can give you better information on what is available and how to enroll here.

00:03:01:08 - 00:03:05:11
Unknown
Is there a website also that gives you information on the part time study program?

00:03:05:11 - 00:03:17:06
Unknown
The next benefit we're going to touch on is the employee degree program. So this program is the program that allows you to do a Cornell degree or enroll in and complete and earn Cornell degree as a Cornell employee.

00:03:17:06 - 00:03:27:21
Unknown
In order to qualify for this benefit, you have to be employed with the university for at least one year and a full time regular benefits eligible position.

00:03:27:23 - 00:03:28:15
Unknown
And this

00:03:28:15 - 00:03:52:07
Unknown
eligibility period must be met prior to the start of classes. So if you start with the university on September 1st, but classes of classes began begin a year later, on August 15th, you will not qualify until the following year. Again, you have to be here with the university employed in a full time regular benefits eligible position for at least one year prior to the start

00:03:52:07 - 00:03:53:16
Unknown
the employee degree program.

00:03:53:16 - 00:04:06:01
Unknown
We should be job related and or Cornell career related, and this is the discussion that you can have with your supervisor in terms of what may be related to the job and or can be Cornell career related.

00:04:06:01 - 00:04:20:02
Unknown
One of the great benefits of the employee degree program is it has an open ended graduation. So if you're taking one of the traditional degree programs, you are allowed to enroll in courses only in those semesters that you are available to take courses.

00:04:20:04 - 00:04:28:09
Unknown
And there's no restriction to completing the degree as a traditional student. So you would not have to complete it within four years. You do have an open ended graduation.

00:04:28:09 - 00:04:40:07
Unknown
You're allowed to enroll in up to eight credits a semester, and if you're enrolled in an A graduate level Sigma program, you are allowed to have two semesters where you're enrolled in more than eight credits.

00:04:40:07 - 00:04:52:10
Unknown
But in that program, at a graduate level, you will need to drop to a part time level as required by the graduate school. So that's a discussion you should have when you're thinking about enrolling in courses.

00:04:52:10 - 00:04:59:20
Unknown
The undergraduate courses are nontaxable, which means you're not taxed if you decide to take a non undergraduate course.

00:04:59:20 - 00:05:05:23
Unknown
The graduate level courses, though, are taxed and this is under Section 127 of the Internal Revenue Code.

00:05:05:23 - 00:05:11:14
Unknown
So if you're thinking of doing a graduate level degree, you will be taxed. On the benefit

00:05:11:14 - 00:05:23:14
Unknown
note, though, the first $5,250 in a calendar year and that's January through December is not taxable. So that is taken into consideration when your tuition is assessed

00:05:23:14 - 00:05:32:05
Unknown
With this program. As with the others, you need to have your supervisor approval. So when you apply for the program, you need to make sure that you contact your supervisor.

00:05:32:10 - 00:05:35:22
Unknown
Let them know, and they're required to sign the form that's associated.

00:05:35:22 - 00:05:55:13
Unknown
When you enroll in courses each semester, you have to consider whether the time will be time worked or time away, maybe taking personal time, some type of time out of the office. And so you need to have the discussion with your supervisor here is our website and it will be available at the end and also on the recording.

00:05:55:13 - 00:05:58:15
Unknown
So you can access our website if you need more information.

00:05:58:15 - 00:06:21:02
Unknown
Now the programs that are available through the employer degree programs include a great number of programs in the Cornell Registrar's Information. You can take the undergraduate course courses excuse me, our traditional programs, which include the Bachelor of Arts, Bachelors of Science, or you may be considering doing a master's level program, which would be the matters of arts, masters of science.

00:06:21:02 - 00:06:49:19
Unknown
There's also the Masters of Professional Studies in ILR. There's the Masters of Industrial Labor Relations, and then there's Ph.D. programs. Now, in addition to these traditional programs, there are other programs that are considered executive programs. These programs are available under some stipulations with the employer degree program, but you please need to contact our office to make sure you get the accurate information on whether your desired program is a part of our degree program.

00:06:49:19 - 00:06:58:12
Unknown
One such program or one set of programs is the Executive Masters of Business Administration programs, which are available through the Johnson School.

00:06:58:12 - 00:07:07:07
Unknown
There are two programs under the MBA. There's the MBA Metro, the Executive Masters of Business Administration, Metro. And this is

00:07:07:07 - 00:07:14:21
Unknown
22 month program with four residential sessions, and it's held on Cornell campus. So there is some online component to it.

00:07:14:21 - 00:07:16:18
Unknown
And then there's the residential period.

00:07:16:18 - 00:07:26:23
Unknown
Similarly, there's the MBA Americas, which is a 17 month program, and it's a dual degree program in partnership with the Queen's University in Canada.

00:07:26:23 - 00:07:35:15
Unknown
The MBA Americas has three residential sessions and again is done both online and in person through those residential sessions.

00:07:35:15 - 00:07:43:07
Unknown
Now, one advantage or one thing that's associated with the MBA programs is there is a tax waiver available.

00:07:43:09 - 00:07:53:10
Unknown
There is a process also for this through the tax office. So if you are interested in enrolling in an MBA program, please contact our office or visit our website for more information.

00:07:53:10 - 00:08:04:02
Unknown
There are other programs available under ADP which are executive level programs, and I'm just listing a few here, but you can visit our website or contact our office to find out if there's more.

00:08:04:04 - 00:08:11:03
Unknown
There's the Executive Master's in Health Administration, which is an online and on campus session.

00:08:11:03 - 00:08:36:18
Unknown
The executive Master's in Public Administration, which is also an 18 month program, and that's has an online and on campus component for residential sessions. There's a master of science in legal studies, and this is done through the law school, and it's a 20 month program which is done online as well as a master's in professional studies, and it's done by LIRR in New York City.

00:08:36:18 - 00:08:46:07
Unknown
So it's a 21 month part time program for people who's been employed and just want to get focused on some other industrial relation topic.

00:08:46:07 - 00:08:48:07
Unknown
So if you have any questions on the

00:08:48:07 - 00:09:00:07
Unknown
employee degree program or any programs offered through the employee degree, please contact our office. Or you can also contact the graduate level office for information on graduate level courses.

00:09:00:07 - 00:09:14:11
Unknown
The next program we're going to talk about is the tuition aid program. Now, this program is a partial reimbursement program for anyone who is taking courses outside of Cornell and is taking or taking courses, certificates towards a degree

00:09:14:11 - 00:09:27:20
Unknown
to be eligible for the tuition aid program, you have to be enrolled, employed at Cornell for one year in a full time benefits eligible position or three year equivalent in a part time benefits eligible position.

00:09:27:20 - 00:09:41:07
Unknown
The tuition aid program reimburses for up to four credits per semester, with a total of eight credits for the academic year. The reimbursement rate for this year this academic year is

00:09:41:07 - 00:09:50:20
Unknown
$166.40 per credit. And that's applied to the four credits or up to the eight credits for academic year. With that

00:09:50:20 - 00:10:02:02
Unknown
reimbursement rate, you can get a reimbursement amount of up to $1,331 in $0.20 for the eight credits done in the academic year.

00:10:02:04 - 00:10:12:20
Unknown
And the academic year falls summer fall, winter, spring. So if you have done or will be doing any credits during the semesters, you're allowed to be reimbursed for up to eight.

00:10:12:20 - 00:10:22:09
Unknown
The tuition aid program requires that the degree program are enrolled in is job related and your supervisor approval is needed in order to enroll

00:10:22:09 - 00:10:24:09
Unknown
in the tuition aid program and

00:10:24:09 - 00:10:27:14
Unknown
to be reimbursed for those credits.

00:10:27:16 - 00:10:36:07
Unknown
If you have any questions about the tuition aid program or you need more information, our website is here and will be available on the recording after

00:10:36:07 - 00:10:41:10
Unknown
our last program we're going to look at today is the Cornell Children's Tuition Scholarship Program.

00:10:41:10 - 00:11:06:10
Unknown
This program is not specific to employees, but for children of employees who are earning a degree after high school graduation, the eligibility for the Cornell World Children's Tuition Scholarship, or CTS, as it's called, is four years of full time benefits, eligible employment with the university and there is also another component for part time eligibility.

00:11:06:10 - 00:11:36:04
Unknown
If you have the equivalent of up to four years, if you have been in part time positions or had part time positions with the university during your tenure, please contact your office and we can review to let you know if and when you are available for the benefit, the benefit for students who are attending. Cornell So if your child is attending Cornell and you're hired on or after July 1st of 1985, you will receive 50% of tuition and administrative fees.

00:11:36:05 - 00:12:02:14
Unknown
depending on whether your child goes to a statutory college or an endowed college, you get 50% of that college's tuition with employment after 1985. There is no graduate level study available. I want to reiterate that this program is a reimbursement program. So while Cornell does its best to provide funding upfront before the tuition bills are due, it is a reimbursement program.

00:12:02:14 - 00:12:07:24
Unknown
So we ask that you make the payment and then Cornell will reimburse through the school

00:12:07:24 - 00:12:26:06
Unknown
if you are hired before the July 1st, 1985 date, please visit our website for information on your eligibility and your benefit level. And if you have any questions in general about degrees at Cornell that your children may be obtaining, please visit our website.

00:12:26:06 - 00:12:56:20
Unknown
Now, if your child is doing a degree program outside of Cornell, you can still receive CTS benefits. So the amount is 30% of Cornell's ups of the tuition and fees for the school You're attending up to 30% of Cornell's endowed tuition. And for this academic year per semester, if your child is attending a school that has a pretty high tuition, that amount would be $9,780 and 60 SATs.

00:12:56:20 - 00:13:21:05
Unknown
So it will be assessed based on what the school's tuition may be and then up to a maximum of what Cornell's endowed tuition is. Now, if you are hired at Cornell, if on or after July 1st of 1985, you are able to receive up to ten semesters or the equivalent of undergraduate study for your child, whichever comes first.

00:13:21:05 - 00:13:57:06
Unknown
So if they obtain a bachelor's degree before the ten semesters are reach, then you've used your limit for the CT's benefit. If they go into ten semesters. A We can pay up to ten semesters for that degree completion. Again, here, no graduate study level is allowed and again, reimbursement is done for this program. If you're going to a school outside of Cornell, here's our website below for information on the CTS program and you can feel free to contact our office if you have any specific questions that aren't answered through our website.

00:13:57:06 - 00:14:05:03
Unknown
So here is our contact information, some resources for you if you have any questions. The website is posted here

00:14:05:03 - 00:14:21:21
Unknown
you can contact me Michelle Lafave in the benefits office and I can provide you with any information, whether it be for the part time study program, the employee degree program, the tuition aid program, or the six Cornell Children's tuition scholarship program.

00:14:21:23 - 00:14:44:00
Unknown
If you have questions that are specific to the Cornell Children's Tuition scholarship, you can contact us through the email here. And those will be routed to that inbox and can be answered specifically on that topic. But any other questions or even questions on the C sheets benefit? Please feel free to contact me and I will provide any information for you.

00:14:44:00 - 00:14:59:04
Unknown
so I really appreciate that you joined us today. I hope you've gotten the information you came for. And if there are any questions, please feel free to contact our office and we will point you in the right direction and answer those for you. Thank you and have a great afternoon.

[Transcript auto-generated.]

00:00:00:13 - 00:00:30:14
Unknown
So just a little bit about what we do at Optum, our X that maybe you are familiar with. So as a pharmacy benefit manager, we work with Cornell's and self-insured health care plans. Our work is to provide easy and effective ways for you to get the medication that you need. And so as a pharmacy benefit manager, a lot of times I don't know that people know necessarily what that means, but we're a claims administrator, so we process claims and we administer claims.

00:00:30:14 - 00:00:48:15
Unknown
So when you go to any one of our network pharmacies and provide your member information, that claim comes back through the Optumrx X system. You'll also learn throughout the process of today's meeting that we also are a pharmacy. So we have benefits that we manage from a pharmacy perspective.

00:00:48:15 - 00:01:04:20
Unknown
So a few things that we want to accomplish today in the webinar. Number one, as an employee, everybody, the most important thing that you'll want to know is how does the formulary work and what are the costs that I'm going to have to pay out of pocket?

00:01:04:22 - 00:01:28:05
Unknown
Number two, how do you go about filling your medications? Number three, I want to talk to you just a little bit about our customer service and the unique design that we have with Cornell University. And then I'll share some information with you about some online tools that we have to help you better access the information and just to help you overall.

00:01:28:08 - 00:01:53:19
Unknown
So as we dive into understanding formulary cost, you'll see our cost savings to appear here on page five. So the cost savings purpose is simply this Make sure that you're taking medications that are on your formulary and in the lowest tier possible. So that's we're going to talk about that. You're going to ask yourself that question. You know, the first couple of questions that come to mind would be, well, what is a formulary?

00:01:53:19 - 00:02:14:11
Unknown
How do I use my formulary and where can I find the formulary? The answers to those questions are on this page. A list of the covered medications by your plan is categorized in the cost levels known as tiers. So you've probably heard that before. A better way to think about it would be generics and brands and non formulary.

00:02:14:13 - 00:02:50:00
Unknown
So within the formulary, those medications are categorized by tiers. Those include both brand and generic medications. How do you use the formulary? Well, you and your doctor can use your formula to help choose the most cost effective prescription medication. So what does that mean? So as you are as you are, there with your doctor and talking about prescription information or prescriptions that are working for you in that conversation with your doctor, your doctor may talk to you about formulary coverage and what's available.

00:02:50:02 - 00:03:15:23
Unknown
That discussion, you know, is is a great opportunity to have that discussion about what what is covered or not covered under the formulary, but also what's the most cost effective? Where can you find the formulary, your formulary information can be found at Optumrx. Dexcom, over to the right hand side of the screen. There you will see a screenshot of also a digital tool that we have.

00:03:16:00 - 00:03:56:17
Unknown
So within our Optumrx Ask.com application or mobile app, as we call it, there's a there's a way for you to access the formulary there through the drug pricing search. Any time that you price a drug through the Optum our mobile app, your formulary, the direct link to your plan benefits for Cornell University are accessed within the mobile app so that you're able to see right away if that medication that you're searching is covered, if it's not covered, if it requires some sort of prior authorization and what the costs are associated with that medication.

00:03:56:19 - 00:04:15:19
Unknown
So the mobile app can be a very useful tool. And we'll talk about that mobile app a little bit later in the presentation. But that is where you can find your formulary understanding your cost. When your doctor prescribes a medication on the formulary, it's going to fall into three different tiers. We talked about that just briefly a moment ago.

00:04:15:21 - 00:04:36:23
Unknown
Tier number one is lower cost. This is typically where you're going to find mostly generics. These are the drugs that are going to have the lowest out-of-pocket cost across the board. On the right hand side of the screen, you'll see the two cost level. One cost level is for a 30 day supply. The second cost level is for a 90 day supply.

00:04:37:00 - 00:05:04:22
Unknown
$5 and $10. Tier two is what we call mid-range cost. If you use tier two drugs instead of tier three, you can help reduce some of your out-of-pocket cost here as well. And those 30 day cost are $30 and then $60 for 90 day cost. And then tier three is what we would call higher cost. Many of those Tier three drugs have lower cost options that are available to you in Tier one or two or two.

00:05:04:24 - 00:05:30:24
Unknown
Ask your doctor if they could work for you as you start to explore the formulary and start to understand where those medications fall into Tier one, into Tier two and Tier three. This is where I was talking to you earlier about having that conversation with your doctor. And if those medications make sense and that's where you can where you can take some of this information and talk to the doctor, go back.

00:05:30:24 - 00:05:59:00
Unknown
And maybe a tier three drug is not what would work the best for you. Maybe a tier one lower cost product would work the best for you and be the most cost effective. Once your plan begins, you can check check which tier your current medication falls in at Optumrx Dexcom or on the mobile app. And as as I mentioned before, as always, talk to your doctor about if a lower cost option is available to you.

00:05:59:02 - 00:06:26:22
Unknown
So what are some other common formulary and coverage questions that you may ask yourself? Will my medication be covered by optumrx? As always, we mentioned before, you can check your plans formulary list of cover medications online or with the application. You can also call Cornell's dedicated customer service line that's available for Cornell University members. That number is 18665336977.

00:06:26:24 - 00:07:03:17
Unknown
So let me talk to you a little bit about formulary and what happens with formulary coverage. The next question is why could my medication cost or coverage change? So your cost of coverage could change for several reasons, including medications moving to a different tier. Medications no longer covered. And you ask yourself, why would those things happen? One of the things that happens within the pharmacy world or the pharmacy benefit management world is that twice a year formularies are updated because medications are changing rapidly.

00:07:03:19 - 00:07:35:14
Unknown
I know that this is very popular topic and you probably hear this, you know, whether you are routinely watching the news or stay in touch with regard to prescription prices. But manufacturers change prices all the time. Pricing is one reason why medications move in and out of formulary. Optumrx Exits Goal as a partner with Cornell University is to always promote the lowest net cost possible for members who are trying to access medications.

00:07:35:16 - 00:08:21:00
Unknown
So our goal in that approach is twice a year we find time to go back and assess which drugs need to move within the formulary, and we'll provide members with better access, better affordability and better options. That's our that's our goal. And so as those things happen twice a year, that's when you may learn as a as a plan, utilize or that your medication might have moved to a different frontier, that medications may no longer be covered, that you may be required to obtain a pre-authorization, you may be required to try other medications or medications may be covered in certain quantities for a certain period of time.

00:08:21:02 - 00:08:51:17
Unknown
So the answer to those questions below is will I be notified if my medication coverage changes? So as Optumrx makes those changes to the formulary twice a year and that happens on January 1st, by the way, and July 1st each year as those two things happen or as as that happens twice a year, every year, we do notify you through a mailing that comes to you 60 days prior to any of those changes happening.

00:08:51:19 - 00:09:23:10
Unknown
So all of those items that I mentioned to you go above a prior authorization, you may be required to try other medications. That's that's commonly referred to as step therapy. And then medications may be covered in certain quantities. We call that quantity limit. So all of those make up what is called utilization management review. So what we do is we apply utilization management review in some cases to make sure that the the medications are appropriate as prescribed.

00:09:23:12 - 00:09:53:14
Unknown
So those are some other common formulary and coverage questions that go along with formularies and how we manage that as a as a prescription benefit manager. And as I mentioned to you, obviously our goal, our goal in working with you and working with Cornell University is to always provide, you know, the lowest cost with the most clinical efficacy efforts, efficacy as we can next.

00:09:53:16 - 00:10:21:16
Unknown
So the good news for Cornell University members is that there's not a lot of changes for 2024, as you probably already know, through and you're earning through your open enrollment. From a pharmacy perspective, not a lot of changes. There is one change that's happening for 2020 for the that is that is a positive benefit for for members as far as the prescription drug coverage goes.

00:10:21:18 - 00:10:59:13
Unknown
That's outlined here on page nine. Cornell University has partnered with OPTUMRX to expand coverage for diabetic continuous glucose monitors through the pharmacy benefit. So what does that mean? Well, what that means is, as of today, a or as of right now, those those continuous glucose monitors for diabetic members are only available through the medical policy. So by expanding that coverage and allowing that coverage to also happen under the pharmacy benefit, you're really having the continuity of being able to access either the medical or the pharmacy benefit for those continuous glucose monitors.

00:10:59:15 - 00:11:29:06
Unknown
Now, that won't apply to every single member and every single case, but that will mean something significant, the people who are being treated for diabetic purposes. So if you are one of those people who are being treated for diabetic purposes, discuss these coverage options with your with your doctor. Your doctor is going to provide a prescription for the Dexcom or other cover products which can be filled at a network pharmacy of your choice if you decide to go the route of of using optumrx for that coverage.

00:11:29:08 - 00:11:59:07
Unknown
And then also members can call optumrx for help getting started or utilize our home delivery for added convenience. So we have other products that are better out there as part of the formulary coverage for continuous glucose monitors. We did picture here though, the Dexcom is pictured over to the right hand side so that you could be familiar with their and that today is a tier two product on the Optumrx formulary.

00:11:59:09 - 00:12:30:16
Unknown
One of the benefits of having a continuous glucose monitor is that this can can enhance your experience with more timely monitoring and require minimal to no finger sticks. So if you are a diabetic member and you're interested in looking at some of those continuous glucose monitor opportunities through the pharmacy benefit, that is one of the one of the positive changes for the Cornell benefits for 2024.

00:12:30:18 - 00:12:50:24
Unknown
All right. So that took us through the first part of the agenda. As I mentioned earlier on, the first part of the agenda was really just understanding formulary and quality as as we go through as we go through the rest of the presentation. Of course, if you have questions, just just place those in the chat and we'll get to those in the questions and answer section.

00:12:51:01 - 00:13:15:18
Unknown
The next section of the presentation is filling. Your medications are really important cost savings to for filling your medications and making sure that you're using and in network pharmacy. And you may be you may say to yourself, how can I make sure that I'm using it in that network pharmacy? Well, the same thing applies. We have some online tools and we'll and I'll go through those at the end of the of the presentation.

00:13:15:22 - 00:13:39:04
Unknown
But but I'll also tell you right up front that Optumrx has over 60 not so you'll see some of those in the next couple of slides as we get into the retail network. So many, many, many pharmacies are included in the network. So that's a good thing. But you'll always want to make sure that you're using an in network pharmacy when you're obtaining your medications.

00:13:39:06 - 00:13:58:01
Unknown
We're going to talk about Optum, our Excellence for Retail Pharmacy Network on the next slide. Then we're going to talk about Cornell Health Pharmacy. We'll talk about optimize home delivery and then we'll talk about Optum specialty pharmacy. So those are the four different layers, so to speak, of the network conversation that we want to have.

00:13:58:01 - 00:14:00:12
Unknown
this slide, you'll see what I was talking about a moment ago.

00:14:00:12 - 00:14:34:12
Unknown
We have a very expansive retail network that provides convenient shopping options for all customers. You can see over to the right hand side that there are 65,000 plus locations included in the network. And in the graph below you'll see there's many logos that are included there. A lot of those logos you'll see are are equivalent to what we see as some of the most widely utilized pharmacies in the Ithaca, New York work area.

00:14:34:14 - 00:15:05:20
Unknown
The Tops pharmacies, their Wegmans pharmacy is there, canning drugs is there, Walgreens is there. Those are those are the top four utilized pharmacies in the Ithaca area. And they're all part of the Optumrx network. So 96, 96% of members live within 3 to 5 miles of a participating network. So the good news is, as you as you look for an in-network pharmacy, you don't have to look very far.

00:15:05:20 - 00:15:10:08
Unknown
And many of those pharmacies are right there within the the Ithaca area.

00:15:10:08 - 00:15:28:24
Unknown
the first aspect of looking at the network was the retail network. And then the second aspect is, you know, some of you may ask the question, can I use the Cornell Health Pharmacy to access my prescriptions? And yes, up to a 90 day supply of covered medications are available through the Cornell Health Pharmacy.

00:15:29:01 - 00:15:56:17
Unknown
A couple of very important things that you'll need to know. You'll always want to ask your clinician to e prescribe the 90 day prescription to the Cornell Health Pharmacy listed as Cornell Dash, zip code 14853 and the SureScripts network. Also, you'll want to make sure that the provider has sent a prescription to Cornell Health. You must contact Cornell Health to fill that order, as these will not be autofill old.

00:15:56:19 - 00:16:19:14
Unknown
So the number is there. We provided the number of 60725569776. Or you can visit health dot Cornell IT services slash pharmacy. So the one key thing that you want to remember there is that these are not an auto filled piece and you've got to make sure that you contact Cornell Health to fill your order

00:16:19:14 - 00:16:22:21
Unknown
All right. So let's talk just a moment about Optum home delivery.

00:16:22:21 - 00:16:55:19
Unknown
So one of the things that one of the things that as I talk to employees that often you hear is that people will often mentioned that they use Optum for home delivery. So how does that work and what's all involved with that? Well, Optumrx has a pharmacy and it's Optum, our home delivery pharmacy. And so that's when you use when you use what we call mail order, you're actually using Optumrx Rex's own pharmacy that we manage and run.

00:16:55:21 - 00:17:22:24
Unknown
We have many locations throughout the throughout the country where we distribute those medications and that and those pharmacy shipping locations. So within every branch of the of the corner or corner of the country, we're able to access people because we've got those locations all across the country. So our farmers, your pharmacy benefit plan gives you of access to fill or long term medications through home delivery

00:17:22:24 - 00:17:48:06
Unknown
So how, how do how does that work? So if you take a medication on a regular basis, you can save time and money with Optum home delivery. You know, the more and more I talk to people and even even myself, we all have preferences. So some people like to visit the pharmacy, some people like to have the added convenience of having a prescription shipped right to your home.

00:17:48:08 - 00:18:13:05
Unknown
So with Optum home delivery, you can have that convenience of getting the medication shipped right to your home, but also you're only paid the equivalent of two months copayment. So you're saving one month's supply of co-pay. In addition to the fact that once you once you set up your prescription with Optum home delivery, it's basically a hassle free fill.

00:18:13:05 - 00:18:36:16
Unknown
From that moment in time, you'll be notified on a monthly basis about ten days before your prescription ships that your prescription is is ready to be shipped. And once you can confirm that ship, but it'll be on the way and there's nothing for you to do, you won't have to go to the pharmacy. Optumrx will manage the prescription with with the doctor so that you don't have to have any involvement there.

00:18:36:16 - 00:19:03:11
Unknown
So it's really a convenient way for you to access medications. A couple of the benefits are that you can talk to a pharmacist 24 seven So if you are somebody that likes to go to the pharmacy because you have the ability to talk to a pharmacist, you can also do that with Optumrx home delivery. Also, one of the things I didn't mention is that there's always free standard shipping with with Optum home delivery.

00:19:03:13 - 00:19:28:23
Unknown
So there's no added cost built in to home delivery costs. Actually, you're going to save, as I mentioned, one month's co-pay already. And in many cases, for a lot of the medications that we ship through home delivery, there's going to be savings because of the day supply that you're receiving. So some of those medications are already going to be cheaper and you're going to be saving a month's co-pay.

00:19:29:00 - 00:19:47:10
Unknown
And as I mentioned, you can enroll in the automatic refill program. And that's an easy way to get your refills without having to do anything, which is why we call it hassle free. On the next slide, you'll see how how you order your prescriptions from Optum home delivery. There are three. There's three ways you ask your provider for a new prescription.

00:19:47:16 - 00:20:13:11
Unknown
You go to Optumrx, XCOM, use the Optumrx app, or you can call the number on your card. And then once you place an order, how soon will you get it? So from the time a prescription is received until it reaches your door is about 7 to 10 days. That's why I mentioned that when you get a refill or when a refill is set, typically you get that notification about ten days in advance because that does take some mail time from there.

00:20:13:11 - 00:20:32:16
Unknown
So once you're in a situation where refills are happening, most of those happen within a 3 to 5 day range. So once you get established in your on the home delivery, you don't miss a beat. Everything is just as you would with getting prescriptions at the pharmacy on a regular basis.

00:20:32:16 - 00:20:41:03
Unknown
So the last element of the network piece that we talked about, we talked about retail pharmacy, we talked about the Cornell Pharmacy, we talked about home delivery.

00:20:41:05 - 00:21:06:05
Unknown
The last element is probably applicable to the least number of people on the plan, but it's a very important part of the plan, and that is for the Optum specialty pharmacy. So specialty medications are prescribed to treat rare and complex health conditions. And because of that, specialty medications need to be handled very much with care and the packaging.

00:21:06:05 - 00:21:33:14
Unknown
And there's a lot of time and effort that go into making sure that specialty medications are handled a certain way. Should a specialty medication be required for a for a member, the prescribing physician would send the prescription to our Optum specialty pharmacy. Once receive the Optum specialty pharmacy outreaches to the member for the initial set up. So the last leg, so to speak, of our network is the Optum specialty pharmacy.

00:21:33:14 - 00:21:55:20
Unknown
And as I said, it's going to apply to less numbers of people because the number of people taking specialty medications is a lot lower than what we would call traditional medication. But it's very important that if you are ever prescribed a specialty medication that you understand how this process works. So we do have specialty member services available Monday through Friday.

00:21:55:22 - 00:22:01:20
Unknown
And then we always have clinical support. They're available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

00:22:01:20 - 00:22:23:00
Unknown
so you can count on guidance, education and compassion throughout your entire course of treatment for specialty medications. So when you're engaged with the Optum specialty pharmacy, you're going to you're going to learn right away that you'll get a little bit more additional support than than what you'd probably consider normal.

00:22:23:02 - 00:22:48:10
Unknown
We have patient care coordinator groups that are part of that Optum specialty pharmacy that really walk a person through how to how to manage the medications they receive for specialty. And a lot of the specialty medications that are used for these rare and complex conditions, a lot of them are injectables. So that there's some extra care that's needed in those cases.

00:22:48:10 - 00:23:13:22
Unknown
one of the elements of one of the elements of adherence from a pharmacy perspective is once someone is taking a specialty medication, we have a texting program that we can put in place for people who want to opt into this program. You can see over to the right hand side of the screen what some of those conditions that those people might have in order to obtain those specialty medications.

00:23:13:22 - 00:23:39:16
Unknown
So anywhere from cancer to transplants or rheumatoid arthritis, there's a number of conditions over on the right hand side. And so people who are in that space and are taking specialty medications for those conditions, we do have that adherence texting program, which which members find helpful. You can see at the bottom that the patient feedback about this program was that I love everything about the program.

00:23:39:16 - 00:23:58:03
Unknown
We need more programs like this to help patients stay on top of medications, because obviously, as as many of us know, one of the key factors, one of the key factors for people who are taking medication on a regular basis is adhering to the regimen for the medication itself.

00:23:58:03 - 00:24:04:03
Unknown
So I know that took some time, but we went through all four areas of really the network.

00:24:04:03 - 00:24:41:12
Unknown
So you've got the retail network. We talked about Cornell Health Pharmacy, we talked about home delivery and we talked about Optum specialty pharmacy. The next segment that we're going to go through is customer service. Going to talk to you a little bit about Optum, our access customer service and how you can access that. And obviously, if you had any questions about any of the stuff that we went through with regard to the the previous information on the network, you can always, always, always reach out to our customer service advocates at Optum X, So we provide a dedicated optumrx our team to the employees of Cornell University.

00:24:41:14 - 00:25:08:10
Unknown
That dedicated number is here on the line 8665336977. It's important, you know, I feel like it's an important part of our partnership with Cornell University that we mentioned that to you, that you do have your own special dedicated team. We take pride in making sure that feedback that we receive, you know, in relation to customer service is taken back to our team.

00:25:08:10 - 00:25:33:11
Unknown
And we always try and strive to put our best foot forward there. So, you know, we encourage you to use customer service, we encourage you to take advantage of that. The fact that you have your own university dedicated line and that dedicated line is the same as the same number that you'll find on the back of your ID card.

00:25:33:13 - 00:25:53:10
Unknown
The next segment is about online tools. So one of the things that I like to do when I talk to people about Optumrx is talk about the advantages that you have when you use some of our online tools. And you'll see here that upon completion of your enrollment, you'll have access to either Optumrx account or the Optumrx X mobile app.

00:25:53:12 - 00:26:21:12
Unknown
You'll need information from your member ID card to register for those on the next screen. You're going to see what happens when you register. So you'll see here it says, Let's get you registered over on the right hand side, you'll see that a member ID is going to be needed. So once you have your member ID, you can start to get set up for the Optum our mobile app, or you can just go to Optumrx Ecom online and sign in the Optum.

00:26:21:12 - 00:26:52:08
Unknown
Our mobile app can be found on the Google Play store or and in the or through the I iPhone store as well. And what you'll see is that with registration on the mobile app, you know if you're already registered on Optum com you'll use the same credentials to log in to the mobile app. But some of the features that are on the mobile app and even on the the website itself on Optum are Dexcom.

00:26:52:10 - 00:27:21:04
Unknown
Some of those features allow you to go in and price medications. Some of the features allow you to go in and find a network pharmacy. You'll also have access to your plans formulary because when you price a medication on the on the mobile app or on the website, it automatically is linked to your member ID, which is linked to your Cornell University plan benefits, which bring in the most up to date and effective information for you.

00:27:21:06 - 00:27:42:24
Unknown
So for example, if you want to do a medication that was not covered on the formulary and you put that into the mobile app, you will be notified immediately that that is an exclusion under your plan. And so that will give you the information that you need to let your doctor know that that you know, that that medication may not be something that you can obtain under your plan.

00:27:43:01 - 00:27:46:04
Unknown
And there might be an alternative that you might want to look for.

00:27:46:04 - 00:28:13:01
Unknown
So also, once you're able to do that, the medication history that you have as a member on the plan, your medication history will also follow you on to that onto the mobile app or onto the website. So in addition to being able to see your formula or being able to see if your medications are covered, being able to compare cost in addition to all that, you'll also have access to all of your medication history.

00:28:13:01 - 00:28:39:18
Unknown
There within the app or the or the or them or the website. On the next slide, you see the same thing that I've already talked about, which was being able to price a drug. So if you look at the picture over to the right, right hand side of the screen at Edgbaston, it is listed over there and you can see that there is a prize for Optumrx X, You can see there's a prize for Costco, a prize for Walgreens, and a prize for Wal Mart listed.

00:28:39:20 - 00:28:49:15
Unknown
So the mobile app allows you to compare the different costs at the network pharmacies so that you can find the best option for yourself.

00:28:49:15 - 00:29:06:09
Unknown
The next slide shows you what we talked about as well in terms of those network pharmacies, over 65,000 network pharmacies. But when you filter that down to your specific area, obviously there's going to be just a number of network pharmacies that you're looking for within your within your area.

00:29:06:11 - 00:29:21:15
Unknown
You can easily find those within the mobile app. That's also a great tool so that when you're traveling or maybe maybe you take a vacation for the summer, you're also able to find those network pharmacies while you're on the road or traveling

00:29:21:15 - 00:29:30:11
Unknown
Also, the mobile app allows you to enroll in home delivery, so there are eligible medications for home delivery that you can save time and money on.

00:29:30:11 - 00:30:04:12
Unknown
And you can check the status of your order right there on the mobile app. And with home delivery, you could get up to a three month supply for medications that we would call maintenance medications. So those would be, you know, typically medications such as high blood pressure or cholesterol medications that you take on a routine basis. And that way, once you can manage that home delivery schedule, delivery schedule online, that way, you'll find that you won't run out of those medications.

00:30:04:14 - 00:30:36:19
Unknown
Another feature of the online digital tools is that you can access your member ID card, so you can go right to the mobile app and you can view your member ID card online download and print a temporary version of that card right there online. So let's talk about a little bit about next steps and then obviously we'll have our question and answer segment if you need to make changes to your health plan enrollment, which includes optimal coverage, the time to do that is is happening right now.

00:30:36:20 - 00:31:02:02
Unknown
You can do that during open enrollment. Open enrollment, this year runs from October 30th all the way to November 17th, directly through work day changes take effect on January 1st of next year. Otherwise, current health plan enrollment will automatically carry into 2024. So as you start to have questions about those things, you can manage that from now until November 17th.

00:31:02:04 - 00:31:15:16
Unknown
And then on the next slide, you'll see the same thing that we've talked about before. If you have questions about Optumrx benefits that Cornell dedicated line has provided for you at 8665336977,

[Transcript auto-generated.]

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:03:01
Unknown
Hi, everyone, and thank you so much for your time on this afternoon.

00:00:03:01 - 00:00:24:15
Unknown
I sincerely appreciate it. As mentioned, I am today will be discussing New York's 529 college savings program, specifically the direct plan. A few things I always like to mention at the beginning of these sessions is, again, just keep in mind as we go through the slides today that this webinar is intended to be educational in nature, meaning I will not be providing any specific tax or investment advice.

00:00:24:17 - 00:00:45:00
Unknown
Any time you do have questions pertaining to your unique situation, it's always going to be advisable to talk those through with a tax preparer since they will know your financial situation better than anyone else. And as I mentioned, I love an interactive audience, so please do put your questions if you have them in the Q&A box, and we'll be sure to address those as we go through the slides.

00:00:45:02 - 00:01:03:07
Unknown
I'm just in case the Internet is a little spotty. I'm going to go ahead and turn my camera off as we go through the presentation just so that I'm not a distraction. We can kind of focus our attention on the materials. I want to do that now and we will go ahead and vibrate. And it is certainly no secret that the cost of living continues to increase.

00:01:03:07 - 00:01:36:12
Unknown
And that's something we experience daily when we do our regular grocery shopping. The same thing is happening in the college space, just on a much more escalated level, since college is already such a costly endeavor to begin with. And on average you can expect to spend anywhere between $25,000 per year upward and even over $50,000 per year. When you take into account not only tuition but also room and board books, technology expenses and data shows us that those costs are only going to continue to rise over time.

00:01:36:14 - 00:02:02:08
Unknown
So my thinking about how we're going to finance our education or our loved ones, education, many of us do tend to think about financial aid as being a pretty large component and on average, a student will receive roughly $15,000 in student aid. And when we think about that as well, if you look at this chart that you see on your screen here, while that is certainly a very helpful dollar amount, a portion of that will be in the form of federal student loans most likely.

00:02:02:08 - 00:02:30:15
Unknown
So that means that we will be on the hook for paying back at least a small portion of that financial aid that we're receiving from you Back to you. And the previous slide where we talk about it costing between 25,000 upward of even $50,000 per year, while again, this $15,000 or so in aid is certainly helpful. It does still leave a pretty hefty gap that will then be responsible for financing on our own, which is where the 529 will come into play.

00:02:30:17 - 00:02:52:20
Unknown
So our program was really created to help families think about saving before those college bills start coming in. So that way, when the time does come to put our loved ones through school, hopefully we won't have to borrow quite so much. So in essence, the whole premise of a 529 account is that every dollar that we save will be one last dollar that will ultimately have to borrow.

00:02:52:22 - 00:03:16:17
Unknown
So now we'll just quickly talk through a hypothetical example to help illustrate how powerful earnings can be. So let's focus our attention to start here on the left hand side of the chart on your screen, and you'll see that this is assuming that a person is a saver. More specifically, they have an 18 year time horizon. So let's pretend they just have a newborn and they want to get jumpstarted on this college savings endeavor right off the bat.

00:03:16:17 - 00:03:39:03
Unknown
And they choose to put $100 into an account each and every month for that full 18 years. They're going to even take it a step further and invest their money during that time, earning on average, in this example, a 5% return. So what does that break down to after that 18 years has passed. They will have saved $21,600 of their own money.

00:03:39:05 - 00:04:08:24
Unknown
But that 5% return that they had working for them over that time horizon actually adds on an additional $13,400. So they walk away with a grand total of 35,000. Now, conversely, had they decided to just take out a loan for that amount, let's say, to pay for that first year of school, and maybe in this example, it's going to be a ten year loan that they take out for that 35,000 after that ten years has passed, rather than paying the lender back just that money that they had needed up front.

00:04:09:01 - 00:04:43:01
Unknown
They are responsible for compensating that lender for giving them that money upfront. So in this case, it was a set or a ten year loan term with a 7% interest rate. And as you can see on the chart, they pay back closer to $50,000. Now, all of that to say please take this to me early. The bad thing that is a reality for many of us, whether it is for a mortgage or a car payment or, of course, in the college space, what this is really just trying to drive home is that if we do have the means to save some money and we do have the ability to invest during that time, it's a

00:04:43:01 - 00:05:01:24
Unknown
really great opportunity for us to be the ones benefiting. Whereas if you borrow that much money, of course the lender is going to be the one that's walking away with a little bit of that earnings potential. So just something to kind of think about. And if you've ever wondered why the 529 exists, it's because we are a state administered program.

00:05:01:24 - 00:05:28:22
Unknown
So the office of the State Controller, coupled with higher education Services Corporation, they partnered together to make this program available to everybody. Next, Census College Savings serves as the program manager handling all of the recordkeeping on the program. I always like to mention on the slide that's actually who I work for. Many people assume I'm a state employee or that I receive some type of commission of people open up a 529 account, and that's not the case at all.

00:05:28:22 - 00:06:05:04
Unknown
My main goal is just to provide that educational support so that people know what this program is and how it works. And then lastly, we are an investment in the market. So if you do choose to open up a 529 account here in New York, in the direct plan, Vanguard would serve as the money manager. And because we are a state administered program, we are able to offer some great tax incentives to anyone who chooses to participate in that first tax incentive will be a New York state tax deduction, which you're able to claim each and every year on the amount of money that you contribute into the program during that taxable year.

00:06:05:06 - 00:06:28:01
Unknown
And that is up to certain limits which you see on your screen here, and it's strictly based on how you file your taxes. So if you are an individual taxpayer, the maximum that you would be able to deduct is $5,000 per year. And if you are married filing jointly, that amount will double up to $10,000 per year. So what it's important to note here is that this is not a per child or per loved one benefit.

00:06:28:03 - 00:06:54:06
Unknown
That maximum deduction is, again, strictly based on how you file your taxes. And I always like to mention on the slide to another misconception with the program is people assume that it uses your pretax dollars. That's not the case. The 529 uses after tax dollars. So we've already paid tax money. We contribute, but then we get to file that state tax deduction on the back end each year when we file our taxes.

00:06:54:06 - 00:07:16:23
Unknown
And if you're not quite sure how a deduction works, the way that I like to explain it very simply is let's see, for example, your salary is $50,000. If you chose to put in that $5,000 as a single filer, rather than paying New York on that for 50,000 that you had made come tax season, you would be based on $45,000 instead of that $50,000 salary.

00:07:16:24 - 00:07:42:02
Unknown
So essentially what we're doing here is reducing our taxable income by that dollar amount that we put into the program that year. Next is our money is invested in the program before we start to pull anything out. It will grow federally, tax deferred. And really all that means is that while our money is in the program, we will not be subject to having to pay any income taxes on the growth that accumulates within our account.

00:07:42:04 - 00:07:59:11
Unknown
So, of course, the longer our money is in there, the harder that money kind of works for us. And that's when that snowball effect can kind of kick into gear. Whereas if you had this money invested in a taxable program, you would have saved less over that same time period because you would be paying taxes on that growth each year.

00:07:59:13 - 00:08:20:11
Unknown
And then lastly, of course, when we go to pull the money out of the program and enter that withdrawal phase, the money will come out tax free. When used for higher education expenses, because, again, that's what this program was created to help people see for. So that will include not only tuition but also room and board books, technology expenses.

00:08:20:13 - 00:08:44:15
Unknown
You're not limited to the New York state schooling system on your child or loved. One can go to school anywhere in the country. They can even study abroad as long as they're going through an accredited program. And furthermore, you can use this for trade, vocational tech schools and apprenticeship programs as well. So if your loved one is more of a hands on learner, doesn't want to go to the traditional, you know, two or four year route, that is totally fine.

00:08:44:15 - 00:09:11:23
Unknown
You still have options for alternate types of schooling. Now, there are two bullet points on this slide that work a little bit differently than everything that I've just discussed here, and that will specifically be K through 12 tuition and student loan repayment. So there was legislation that was passed in 2018 by the federal government that determined that K through 12 and student loan repayment would now be considered qualified educational expenses in the 529.

00:09:12:00 - 00:09:35:01
Unknown
However, the way that New York state law was written was actually in conflict with that and because there hasn't been an amendment that has been passed through. What that means is if you do choose to take money out of your 529 account, specifically for K through 12 private tuition or to pay off an outstanding student loan, that would be considered a non-qualified withdrawal specifically at the state level.

00:09:35:02 - 00:10:07:17
Unknown
So not federally, but just here at New York State. And what really what that really means is that New York would be able to recapture that previously claimed tax deduction that you had filed. If you do choose to use your money for those two bullet points. And the reason that I like to kind of talk through that is I do want you to have the full picture over how that works, because you might decide then to keep the money in the program for a little bit longer and use that for future college expenses instead so as to be able to maximize all those tax incentives that are available to you.

00:10:07:20 - 00:10:33:13
Unknown
Now, when you enter the withdrawal phase of the program, it will be very easy to access your money and you'll simply log on to the website, you'll click into the beneficiary account that you're looking to pull money out of, and then you'll have the ability to direct where you want those funds sent. And what I mean by that is if it is for a tuition payment, let's say you can actually have a check cut right from your 529 account and mailed directly to the school's tuition office.

00:10:33:15 - 00:10:51:23
Unknown
That keeps the records, you know, really nice and clean and you don't even have to worry about touching the money. I want to spare expense. Maybe your child is going to be binder textbooks at the campus bookstore. And that scenario, maybe it makes more sense for your child to just, you know, swipe the credit card at the bookstore.

00:10:52:00 - 00:11:15:04
Unknown
And when that credit card bill comes in the mail to you, you would then be able to reimburse your self for the amount of money that they had pulled out or put on the credit card. I always tell families here, you want to keep the numbers, you know, the same. So if it's $800 for textbooks, take out that withdrawal for $800 so that those numbers that I'm just going to help to avoid you being questioned by the IRS.

00:11:15:06 - 00:11:32:14
Unknown
And with that said, I'm never going to come knocking at your door asking you, you know, what you used to withdraw for? What if you ever were audited? It would definitely help you to have that documentation. So with that said, I do encourage everyone keep track of your receipts just in case you ever do go through an IRS audit.

00:11:32:22 - 00:12:02:01
Unknown
So now let's talk through a couple other misconceptions that exist with the 529. In my opinion, I think people tend to assume that it was created specifically for parents saving for their children. And while that is unlikely, the most common use that we see actually anyone can be an account owner and anyone can be a beneficiary. So what that means is you can open a 529 and see for yourself if you are in school or planning to go back, or maybe your spouse is planning to go back to school, you can open a 529 for them.

00:12:02:03 - 00:12:28:05
Unknown
Of course, you can save for children, but also grandchildren, nieces, nephews, really anyone near and dear to you whose future you're looking to contribute towards. This just gives you that outlet to do so. The only real stipulation is that you must be a U.S. citizen or resident alien, meaning you have a Social Security number or tax number. However, there's no income limitations, so you cannot make too much or too little to participate.

00:12:28:07 - 00:12:49:14
Unknown
And more importantly, there's no age limitations. And the reason that I stress that is because not everyone graduates from high school and is then suddenly ready to pursue a degree. Maybe your child needs to take a few years to work for a little while and figure out what they're passionate about, and maybe they choose to go on to college when they're in their late twenties or their thirties.

00:12:49:16 - 00:13:12:19
Unknown
That's totally fine. You have the ability to keep the money in the 529 account. It will not be edged out and you can always start that withdrawal process later on. Additionally, you do have the ability to change beneficiaries as needed. So if you have multiple children, maybe one goes to college and one is an entrepreneur, you can move money between those beneficiary accounts as needed as well.

00:13:12:19 - 00:13:37:12
Unknown
And there won't be any fees or penalties that apply there. And maybe you just know that money from the entrepreneur child into the college bound child. That way you're kind of keeping the money in the program and again, maximizing those tax incentives that are available to you. The last thing that I'll note here on this slide is unlike some other programs with the 529, you as the account owner have full control over when and how these funds are used.

00:13:37:14 - 00:13:49:04
Unknown
So that is not the type of account where your child turns 18 and suddenly has access to the money you're basically saving for future you with the intention of passing this money on for those college expenses to your loved ones.

00:13:49:06 - 00:14:07:03
Unknown
Now, you're probably wondering, you know, if opened an account and you're saving for all this time, maybe your child decides that they are not going to go to school at all, You might be fearful of what happens there. So hopefully after this slide, I will help to put your mind at ease. That is not as scary as you might think, because, again, you do have options.

00:14:07:05 - 00:14:24:16
Unknown
So the first two bullet points that we'll talk about, I kind of already alluded to them on the last slide, but again, you can do nothing if your child graduates from high school. You're not going to be pushed out of the program if they don't start college right away on the money will continue to grow, tax deferred and maybe they change their mind and go to school a little bit later on in life.

00:14:24:16 - 00:14:52:24
Unknown
Again, That's totally fine. And as I mentioned before as well, you can change the beneficiary quite simply. Maybe your child doesn't go, but you decide to go back for your masters or you decide to just keep the money in the account and ultimately roll it down to future grandchildren. That's an option you have on flexibility here. And then, of course, we understand that life happens and you might just need to tap into this account for something totally unrelated to higher education or college.

00:14:53:01 - 00:15:13:08
Unknown
And that's okay. It's your money. At the end of the day, you can use it as you see fit. What would happen if you did choose to take out a non-qualified withdrawal? Is that any of the earnings that had accumulated with your account, not the money personally saved, just that growth portion that would be subject to a 10% federal penalty.

00:15:13:13 - 00:15:37:00
Unknown
Again, if you've used this to your kitchen on an expense not associated with college, so let's say you've saved $10,000 of your own money. It grows to $12,000. You do a redo of your kitchen with your 529 account. That $2,000 of growth in my example, that's what that 10% penalty would apply here. So $200 as far as my example goes.

00:15:37:02 - 00:16:02:00
Unknown
Good news, though, is some exemption will be waived and that would be in the unfortunate event of something like a death on disability, but also on the positive side, if your child receives a scholarship, you're able to withdraw an amount equal to that scholarship without that penalty applying. So again, it is pretty flexible in that sense. And also if your child does decide to pursue a U.S. military academy, that penalty would be waived in that scenario as well.

00:16:02:04 - 00:16:27:01
Unknown
Now, as far as fees go, there is a fee to participate in the 529. However, we pride ourselves on actually being one of the lowest in the country. So what you can expect to spend on an annual basis is 0.12%, which is known as 12 basis points. And what it really boils down to is that every $1,000 that you put into the program, you would pay $1.20 for the entire year.

00:16:27:03 - 00:16:40:06
Unknown
So this is where I made my cheesy joke that if you happen to go to a fancy coffee shop that everybody loves and you buy one cup of coffee, you've likely paid more for that cup of coffee than you will for your fee. And the 529

00:16:40:06 - 00:16:54:10
Unknown
As far as what the requirement is to open an account with no account minimum and no contribution requirements, meaning we're putting you in the driver's seat to use or to contribute what you're personally comfortable with and what your family is comfortable with.

00:16:54:12 - 00:17:12:11
Unknown
So you're not locked into making any crazy contributions. You can get started with as little as $1 and then, you know, fund it from there with what ever you are comfortable with again. And you do have a means as far or different options as far as how to get money into your program. And that includes on payroll, direct deposit.

00:17:12:15 - 00:17:35:10
Unknown
You can have money coming right out of the paycheck, which I personally think is such a great feature, because once you get that first paycheck or two to your checking account, you don't even miss the money. You just kind of forget about that little bit that you have designated to go into your FY 29. And before you know it, you've built up this nice little, you know, in that state that you'll be able to distribute to your children or loved ones.

00:17:35:12 - 00:17:41:02
Unknown
But outside of people, you can also link it to a checking account where you can, of course, just mail in a check periodically as well.

00:17:41:02 - 00:17:53:06
Unknown
As far as maximums go, so very high dollar amount, but still something worth noting. If your account were to reach a balance of $520,000, you would no longer be able to continue adding funds from there.

00:17:53:06 - 00:17:57:12
Unknown
So that is important to note on, but likely doesn't apply to too many of us.

00:17:57:12 - 00:18:10:02
Unknown
So now we'll just switch gears here quickly. And again, we will address those questions at the end of the presentation. I did see one come in the chat box, so I promise to get to that. But now let's focus on how the investment portion of the program works.

00:18:10:04 - 00:18:36:09
Unknown
I mentioned earlier that Vanguard is the money manager. You've likely heard of them in at least some capacity before, but they've basically created on two different types of portfolios that you can utilize with the 529. And the first that we'll be discussing are the individual portfolios, which basically allow you to cost them, create your own account. And what's great about it is you can make changes up to two times per year and you can choose up to five of those investments in your account.

00:18:36:09 - 00:18:57:17
Unknown
So essentially you're not limited to just one choice. You can be, you know, as they versus as you so choose. The other options that we'll discuss are known as the target enrollment portfolio. And those are a really, really great option for people who are not super comfortable making financial decisions because it's simply based on the year that your child is expected to start school.

00:18:57:20 - 00:19:01:00
Unknown
And I'll talk about that in a little bit greater detail momentarily.

00:19:01:00 - 00:19:14:12
Unknown
All right. So let's get started and I'll keep this at a pretty high level. The website is really going to be your best friend if you do choose to utilize the individual portfolios. But I just like to kind of talk through an example so that you can kind of understand how these might work.

00:19:14:14 - 00:19:40:00
Unknown
You'll notice to the right hand side of each of the portfolio names that there's a little donut and the red dot that represents stocks, the blue that you'll see and some options, pre-sentence bonds. And then lastly, the green donut represents what's known as short term reserves, which means that if your money is in that green donut, you're likely not earning very much money at all because it's just doing its best to track the US dollar.

00:19:40:04 - 00:20:06:02
Unknown
So also, if the market were to take a big dip, you also likely wouldn't lose quite so much money. So that's going to be the most conservative option that's available to you with the individual portfolios. Again, you're allowed to choose up to five of them to create your own custom account. So you might say, for example, I would like 25% of my account in the developed markets portfolio, 25% in growth stock, another 25% in small cap.

00:20:06:04 - 00:20:25:10
Unknown
And I'm just going to choose one more for the sake of time. We'll put the last 25% in the income portfolio. Again, you can pick and choose these based on what your time horizon is and what your risk tolerance is. And my example there, I chose, you know, 75% of my account in stocks with about 25% in that bonds portion.

00:20:25:10 - 00:20:44:06
Unknown
So that's pretty definitely something I do when I have a smaller child because I have that longer horizon before I need to tap in and access the money. Or as somebody who has, you know, senior in high school, they might choose to use more of the bond option since I'll be pulling that money out of the account sooner.

00:20:44:08 - 00:21:19:19
Unknown
So when thinking about the individual portfolio, specifically, the two biggest driving factors are always going to be your time horizon again, how soon do we need to access that money and our risk tolerance? How comfortable are we with the idea of up and down movement in our account that that is something that really deters us? We're likely going to be considered a conservative investor, whereas if our biggest objective is growth and we're okay with the up and down movement because we want that biggest opportunity for earnings to accumulate, we'd be considered an aggressive investor and maybe we can afford to take on a little bit more stocks in our account.

00:21:19:21 - 00:21:43:21
Unknown
That will be entirely, you know, up to you and what your personal comfort level is. I know what the slide again, it's pretty high level. And you might be wondering, you know, what makes each of these different from one another. Again, I mentioned that's where the website is going to be really, really great to resource because it will tell you what the individual investment objectives are for each of these, what the past performance has been.

00:21:43:21 - 00:22:07:00
Unknown
So you could see returns over one, three, five and ten years for these portfolios. And you can also see with the top ten holdings are that make up each of these different portfolios. So I know offhand on something like the developed markets portfolio will hold names like Samsung, Nestlé and Toyota, I'm just to name a few. And that was the last time that I had checked the portfolio on the website.

00:22:07:00 - 00:22:41:12
Unknown
So that is very much subject to change, but the website will definitely be your best friend when it comes to utilizing these individual portfolios. Now the big difference between the individual portfolios and the target and the portfolios which we'll be discussing now is the target embodiment. Portfolios are more of an automatic option. So if I'd log on periodically and make adjustments to your account as your child is getting older, if that is something that does not sound appealing to you, the target enrollment portfolios will be your best friend because these go on autopilot.

00:22:41:14 - 00:23:02:13
Unknown
Again, I mentioned you're basically going to have to make the choice of what year you expect your child to most likely start school. And again, it's a generalization then. But for example, if you have a newborn today, you likely would choose the 2041 portfolio because that's about 18 years from now and you'll likely have that 18 year time horizon before you need to start withdrawing money.

00:23:02:13 - 00:23:25:07
Unknown
Whereas if you have a senior in preschool, you might be in the target enrollment, you know, 2024 portfolio, for example. But again, once you choose that initial year that you're assuming your child will start, what's great is that each and every year the computer will kick in, will reallocate our account, and over time it will slowly move it to a more and more conservative position.

00:23:25:07 - 00:23:56:09
Unknown
So I'll just kind of take a quick look at those donuts on your screen, similar to how we discussed them, the individual portfolios, you'll see that the 2041 option, that donor is roughly 95% stocks, about 10% bonds. And each year as they move into the next portfolio, you'll see that Bond segment gets bigger and bigger because, again, as we start to enter the year where we're going to be pulling money out, we want to minimize any of that risk that we can on and will be entering the withdrawal phase then.

00:23:56:11 - 00:24:20:20
Unknown
So again, the big difference between the target investment portfolio and the individual portfolios is that these are an automated investment, whereas the individual portfolios are more stagnant. You would be responsible with the individual portfolios to log on periodically and make just months as your child gets older, whereas with these it will happen automatically on your behalf. And then this important disclosure.

00:24:21:00 - 00:24:41:21
Unknown
It's something that we all likely already know that again, the 529 is an investment in the market, which means it's subject to risk and that it is possible to lose money with that investment. And I never see that to scare anybody. But I think it's important to understand, you know, how your money is being utilized and that will be the same if you have a retirement account or a personal brokerage account that you're using.

00:24:41:23 - 00:24:53:12
Unknown
They all have that risk associated with them because we just don't know what the stock market is going to do tomorrow. So again, think about your time horizon. Think about your comfort level with risk and you can make an educated choice from there.

00:24:53:12 - 00:25:01:17
Unknown
Now, we will quickly review some of the things that we've already talked about and we will talk about how to actually open up one of these accounts as well.

00:25:01:19 - 00:25:28:17
Unknown
So again, we are a sponsored program, so we are able to offer some great tax incentives, including a state tax deduction each year. And the money we put into the program, our money will grow federally tax deferred. So we won't be subject to income taxes each year. And then ultimately our withdrawals will come out tax free. When you activation expenses very flexible and that anyone can be an owner, anyone can be a beneficiary on the program.

00:25:28:19 - 00:25:53:01
Unknown
And we can choose not only from tailored enrollment portfolios, but we can also add a level of customization if we choose to utilize the individual portfolios. Lastly, on something that we don't have a specific slide for, but I always think it's worth mentioning, there are some optional features that you can opt into with the 529, and those are programs such as You Gift and You Promise, which allows family members to make contributions into your account.

00:25:53:03 - 00:26:00:21
Unknown
Or if you're someone who does a ton of online shopping, it's worth looking up. You promise that's a cash back rewards program. But again, it's just totally optional.

00:26:00:21 - 00:26:21:17
Unknown
As far as opening up one of these accounts, everything is done electronically right on our web portal. And I will put that you are up on the screen here momentarily. But what's important to know is that you'll need to come equipped with your name, date of birth and Social Security number, as well as that information for the loved ones that you'll be opening your account for.

00:26:21:19 - 00:26:44:13
Unknown
Once you plug in that information, you'll be prompted to select the investment choice that makes the most sense for you and your family. And then you will be prompted to choose how you want to add money to your account. And again, that can be via check by linking it to your checking account and through checking you have the option of doing just a one time contribution or a recurring monthly contribution.

00:26:44:15 - 00:26:59:01
Unknown
And then of course you can use payroll direct deposit as well where you're allowing money to come right out of your paycheck each pay cycle. If you do fall into that category, you will be prompted to print out a form on that will populate on your screen

00:26:59:01 - 00:27:10:07
Unknown
enrollment and everything's done electronically on our web portal you are able to use I'm not only a checking account or check, but you can choose to use as well direct deposit.

00:27:10:09 - 00:27:29:14
Unknown
And if you do choose that option, you will have the ability to input your account number and your routing number or your 529 account right into work day and have that money coming out each piece cycle. So that's going to be a really easy process to make that linkage so that you can have that money coming out each and every paycheck.

00:27:29:14 - 00:27:35:00
Unknown
And you can, of course, make changes to that dollar amount as needed and start and stop those contributions as well.

00:27:35:00 - 00:27:52:21
Unknown
And then just to kind of wrap things up, we've already talked about most of this information here, but simply before you do open up an account, it's important to know this is an investment in the market. I can't make guarantees as to how your individual account might perform and that also each and every state does have their own 529 account.

00:27:52:23 - 00:28:20:12
Unknown
So while of course we'd love for you to use ours, if you live outside of New York, you can absolutely check in with your home state there and see if there are any tax incentives that you can utilize if you were to open up that state instead. And then as pressed, here is our website and why 5 to 9 at work dot org on There are great information and resources here on the website you know that some that take you right away from our page as well yeah financial aid tips.

00:28:20:12 - 00:28:34:07
Unknown
We have college planning calculators that Bankrate has created on there's a whole bunch of great information here on the website and of course this is where you would ultimately open up the account if you do choose to pursue an account,

[Transcript auto-genetared.]

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:09:22
Unknown
Okay. I think we will go ahead and begin. Good morning, everyone. My name is Gordon Barker and I am part of the Benefits Services and Administration team.

00:00:09:24 - 00:00:37:21
Unknown
I'm very happy to be here today to talk to you about some important information related to the endowed open enrollment for 2024. You can't see them, but there's lots of very important benefit services and administration team members here behind the scenes who are making this all happen. I do want to give a shout out to that team here at Begler, Emily Brousseau, Amanda Jemison and Michelle Assad.

00:00:37:23 - 00:01:06:07
Unknown
They and others on the team have been working all year to get us to this point. And so what we want to share today is kind of the culmination of all of our efforts to enhance our benefit programs, get very valuable renewals and insights into the plans and to today share some information with you a little bit about how we get there each year and what's changing what's happening for one one.

00:01:06:09 - 00:01:07:11
Unknown
2024

00:01:07:11 - 00:01:11:18
Unknown
So today we'll start with health care, the icon on the left.

00:01:11:20 - 00:01:42:05
Unknown
We'll talk about some renewals and some trends that we've seen. We'll talk about the cost share component. I'll put a lot more on the screen than necessarily we'll talk through. But these presentations are also being recorded. So if you missed something and you want to come back to it, usually by about the next day, this recording will sit on our open enrollment website for you to come back and review if you'd like, or to send your friends if you think there's important information for them.

00:01:42:07 - 00:02:13:06
Unknown
So we'll start with renewals and trends. We'll talk about some exciting enhancements that we have coming for our and our active health plans. We'll talk about things like some musculoskeletal opportunities we'll give for people who are experiencing body pains and aches. We'll talk about some really exciting advancements in our family formation benefits. And I'll tell you a little bit more about that means shortly, because you have all been getting communications from New York life.

00:02:13:08 - 00:02:46:12
Unknown
If you have a volunteer free life insurance policy, just summarize again what's happened so far, what's yet to happen, and then share some other changes and other items that are effective January one for you. So even though we're dealing with active and road health care and during our active and open enrollment period, did want to spend a minute or two to talk to you about our endowed retiree medical because the renewal process that we go through for retirees and for actives is very similar.

00:02:46:18 - 00:03:09:20
Unknown
And some of the impacts that impact one group impact the other. So I'm going to not going to read everything on this slide, but I want to point out some some interesting things for you and certainly for you to think about. If you're perhaps nearing retirement, you might want to get a little bit more of an understanding of what's available right now and what it's been experiencing in the past year.

00:03:09:22 - 00:03:37:17
Unknown
So let's start with on the downside side for retirees, what we call our pre 65 plan. It's the our p h p, So this is the pre Medicare portion of coverage. It had those retirees basically had a relatively good experience this past year. And we look at that past year and the 12 months before. So it's really a 24 month period.

00:03:37:19 - 00:04:11:11
Unknown
We did see some claims decreasing and we've seen even into 2023 some favorable results. What's important to note about this group and we'll talk about it in some other health care groups that we talk about, the smaller the group that we have, the more impact any one claimant can have. So if someone has a really high cost medical claim experience that can have a bigger impact on our plan because we're looking at each plan and how it's used separately.

00:04:11:13 - 00:04:33:11
Unknown
So for our pre 65 group, again, a smaller group who's only in the plan, usually for maximum, maybe ten years, but for a lot of people 3 to 5 years, and then they become Medicare eligible. It's kind of a volatile group. If something happens in the industry, if something happens in an individual or a couple of group members, it has an impact.

00:04:33:13 - 00:04:59:24
Unknown
We saw some some good experience. And with experience we mean how much medical needs there were, how many claims were submitted. But we did have some impacts on those claims. A large portion of our health care business, a large portion of claims and services happened through the Tioga Medical Center. Our partners here in the area and Cayuga contracts directly with that.

00:04:59:24 - 00:05:26:03
Unknown
Now, they went through a new contracting period right before this period that we're looking at. So the last two years, they've been under a new contract. When they negotiated that contract, it was actually an improvement to their fees. And so while that's great, we want to we want to support people's livelihoods when we see fees grow up for go up for contracted providers.

00:05:26:05 - 00:05:50:23
Unknown
That naturally has an impact on us. Now, for this group, again, because some of our retirees, particularly our pre 65, are spread out and may not be using the medical as much, it did have an impact, not as much on this particular group, but we'll come back to that. The other thing that's important to note is that Cornell works very hard on helping you with your prescription drug benefits.

00:05:51:00 - 00:06:21:16
Unknown
We've negotiated a separate standalone prescription program that ties into all but one of our medical plans. And that program is part of a coalition. I'm very pleased to say that now, probably 21 years or so ago, Cornell, working with Columbia University, working with Boston University, created a coalition, what's called the preferred, our expertise and coalition, and at this point started with three schools.

00:06:21:16 - 00:07:01:10
Unknown
It's now a little bit over 30 schools. About 200,000 lives are covered under this coalition. And what the coalition can do is negotiate as a group for better pricing discounts and service for our covered prescription individuals. So we just went through as part of the purpose a multi-year contracting deal with Optumrx X. And basically what we saw and what we were able to achieve was additional rebates and discounts for this coming year 2025 and 2026.

00:07:01:12 - 00:07:22:10
Unknown
And we also negotiated some better discounts for the last six months of this year under this contract. So when we factor in what's going to happen with costs in the future, this is a very positive thing for us to be able to look at some additional savings because as we know, drug prices go up. We've got some additional rebates and discounts.

00:07:22:12 - 00:07:48:20
Unknown
And again, I'm spending a little bit more time on these things under retiree because you'll see they repeat in the active health care plans. So there are two plans available to Cornell retirees who are over 65 on the outside. One is what we call the 8020 plan. This is for people who are Medicare eligible. They have Medicare as their primary coverage, both Medicare hospital and Medicare Medical.

00:07:48:22 - 00:08:17:04
Unknown
And then they have an 8020 Aetna plan that Cornell provides. And between Medicare and 8020, they have this very nice protection bubble of knowing basically 80% of all their charges will be covered by a plan, and that leaves just 20%. That would be their responsibility. Now, this group, this is our largest group of retirees in our population, lots of individuals, lots of spend.

00:08:17:04 - 00:08:43:23
Unknown
We saw a much higher trend for this group over 24 months. We also saw that you get contracting have a bigger impact on this group, that the coalition, through purpose, those rebates and discounts had a bigger impact also. But we did find ourselves in this year looking at about a 2% increase across the board for what we expect to be our expense in the next year.

00:08:44:00 - 00:09:15:23
Unknown
It's important to note for that group, again, our largest retiree group, they had not experienced a rate increase for the four years leading up to 2023, and so they've had a really good run, we would say, of good utilization, not requiring additional cost. This year. We're talking about an additional 2% cost share. The second post 65 group is our fully insured Medicare Advantage plan.

00:09:16:00 - 00:09:45:05
Unknown
And that price at that plan is across the country and it delivers this service for the Medicare program. But our our utilization is tied across the country. And so while we have some impact on utilization from our group, we're really looking at utilization from many, many others. It's got regional care, it's got extended region care. But our rates are somewhat driven by the rest of the country trade.

00:09:45:07 - 00:09:53:16
Unknown
There's no prescription. Our coverage here through purpose, there is our coverage, but our savings there didn't wasn't able to help this group.

00:09:54:00 - 00:10:22:07
Unknown
So just again, kind of a summary of what happens going into 2024. We did have to increase our cost share with our pre 65 group. It was about $6 a month for individuals, about $30 a month for family, for our post 65, the range of 1 to $4 a month for individual and sort of $5 a month for family and our Medicare Advantage, about a dollar a month for individual and $7 a month for family.

00:10:22:09 - 00:10:51:07
Unknown
Again, I won't spend much more time on this, but I wanted to set up this next slide, which is our active endowed health insurance. So here we're talking about four possible plan or three possible plans that in doubt active faculty and staff can have. We have the Cornell Program for Healthy Living. Now we have the Weill Cornell PPO, and then we have our high deductible health plan that's linked with a health savings account.

00:10:51:09 - 00:11:24:23
Unknown
Same kind of idea. We look at 24 months of claims. We project forward where medical trends going, where usage might go. Same concept we talked about before our TPA. The contracting had an impact on costs going up for services, same positive impact from the our tax rebates and discounts. And then what we found is because our increase was not too high going into this next year, we wanted to be able to add some additional benefits, which we'll spend time on in a few minutes.

00:11:24:23 - 00:11:56:22
Unknown
So we'll talk about family formation and travel benefits, our high deductible health plan, a smaller enrollment plan. But for that one, we are limited by the IRS and deductibles. And so deductibles did increase under that plan, but that was regulated over and above us. And just a quick mention for our active groups and all of our plans, do have the Optum our X drug card, and that works on a formulary that changes every January one and July one.

00:11:56:24 - 00:12:28:05
Unknown
We did have a few people impacted by this coming January one, and each of those individuals will get direct communication. Now, what you see in the middle column, we did see a projected increase in costs of 5.4%. And we do need to share that with our faculty and staff. Our reasoning, our goal is that we want to share about 10% of premium costs for an individual, and we want to share about 25% of costs for families.

00:12:28:11 - 00:12:51:04
Unknown
So Cornell, is our goal has been to always pick up 90% of the premium for individual and 75% for family. What's actually been happening over the last number of years is we don't pass as much premium on to our faculty and staff. So that formula has gotten really skewed a bit. And you'll see just one note here that will focus here.

00:12:51:06 - 00:13:31:02
Unknown
Right now under the this health plan, individuals are only paying about 7.5% to the premium and a little under 20% of the premium for families. So we've been subsidizing more and more over time. We need to slowly try to get back to the 1025, because that is our commitment. So with a 5.4% and you've seen this in open enrollment literature increase, if you're in the CPA, child plan, you're seeing a cost increase in the range of $4 for individuals to at the most, $25 for families and lesser with the employee plus child and employee and spouse.

00:13:31:04 - 00:14:09:05
Unknown
Similar under the HSA plan, we're adding a 5.4% increase in cost share. So it's and Cornell is paying 5.4% more. The range of changes here is 2 to $17. And for a while, Cornell Medical Plan, more expensive plan, working primarily out of New York City, The cost increases were 7 to $37 per month. Now, in total, just one thing I'll point out over here in total, Cornell is still paying roughly 84, a little over 84% of the total costs of coverage.

00:14:09:07 - 00:14:32:15
Unknown
And what that means is, while we shared about another million dollars across all faculty and staff, Cornell increased its contribution by almost $6 million and about $5.9 million. So we are looking to provide the best care we can. We are subsidizing it a great deal, but we do have to share costs occasionally

00:14:32:15 - 00:14:36:07
Unknown
as we're talking about what we're adding to this plan.

00:14:36:09 - 00:15:01:18
Unknown
We looked at where our highest usage was in our plan over the last number of years, there have been five areas, and I hope you can see this white font and blue. Let us know in the Q&A if it's a problem. We'll try to change it for the future. But we have five areas of higher spend musculoskeletal, which is bones and joint issues and pain and and injuries.

00:15:01:20 - 00:15:45:24
Unknown
Cancer treatment and care is our second highest behavioral health, mental health treatment and services. More on the volume than the pricing. Digestive and gastrointestinal treatment. And then neurological care, nerve damage, nerve challenges. So those five areas have pretty much led our use and our spend over the past few years. Interesting to know those are also the areas where when we see high cost claims for individuals and high cost claims would be any individual who is who spends more than $100,000 in the year, not that they spend that have a planned spend of $100,000 or more in a year.

00:15:46:01 - 00:16:11:00
Unknown
The high cost claimants we're seeing are pretty much also tied to those highest areas of use. So as we look at what we can do to change plans, we look usually at can we make an impact on the fact that there are so many services needed in these areas? Another interesting note, and we're going to talk about musculoskeletal because we've got something that we're offering for one.

00:16:11:00 - 00:16:37:22
Unknown
One interesting note, though, diabetes and the whole high blood sugar, and it's interrelated. Medical conditions is our fastest growing of all of our users. And so that's another area we want to look at, particularly to see if we can start to stem some of that growth. And so the little note here is a great new thing that we're adding into our plans.

00:16:37:24 - 00:17:06:04
Unknown
One 124 And that's that we are going to cover continuous glucose monitoring devices as a valuable plan benefit through the purpose through the Optum, our X cards and coverage. The other plan improvements we're going to come back and look at in some more detail again, musculoskeletal we're going to offer starting January, an associated benefit through hinge health. And I'll talk about that in a moment.

00:17:06:06 - 00:17:36:15
Unknown
And then we've mentioned we've got some family formation and benefit improvements. So let's dive into those a little bit. In the musculoskeletal area. Again, joints movement challenges there that we have. Aetna has always had a back end joint care program and Aetna back in joint is now offering something that we've added to our coverage effective January one, and that is going to be a partnership with a company called Hinge Health.

00:17:36:17 - 00:18:08:09
Unknown
You're going to hear a lot more about this if you're in the plans. We're going to be rolling out information starting in January. And basically what hinge health does is it offers virtual physical or exercise therapy programs, along with virtual coaching. And depending on the body part, they focus on about eight different body parts joints that might have issues depending on what you might have as a challenge in pain or use.

00:18:08:09 - 00:18:47:06
Unknown
And depending on the body part. Hinge, if you participated in this program, may also be sending you sensors that you can actually attach to those areas so that they can remotely do kind of an evaluation with you of what's happening when you're using those joints. So it's an exciting new virtual connection program tied to physical therapy coaches to exercise coaches within the health program that make provide a lot of kind of knowledge and perhaps pain relief to our folks who are are suffering under these conditions.

00:18:47:08 - 00:19:25:11
Unknown
Basically, what would hinge health has found in their experience is there are four out of the top musculoskeletal conditions that they've shown to have release of pain and other improvements. And so and we mentioned those here, mechanical joint disorders, muscle ligament, fascia issues, back pain or degenerative disc issues and sprains and strains. So we're very excited about being able to offer this new perhaps pain relief and very hopefully various active way to help you if you're experiencing certain musculoskeletal disorders.

00:19:25:13 - 00:20:01:11
Unknown
So again, coming in January one, lots more information and it's going to be a pretty interesting move into the virtual area for us. The second area and we've got a number of pieces to talk about here is we reevaluated all of our what we call family formation benefits. And so that runs everything from adoption to surrogacy to fertility or IVF treatment to egg and sperm preservation for people who need to defer starting their family.

00:20:01:13 - 00:20:32:00
Unknown
And we we did a survey. We checked with our Ivy Plus institutions. We talked a lot to consultants and to Aetna Health, and we're excited to announce a number of improvements and we'll put a lot more of this information up on our website as we get into one one. But currently under adoption and surrogacy currently Cornell offers a reimbursement for up to $5,000 of expenses for each adoption for our faculty and staff.

00:20:32:02 - 00:20:54:18
Unknown
If it happens to be an adoption of a disabled child or a needs child, we will reimburse up to $6,000 for adoption. Currently, but currently we've not covered any kind of surrogate see benefits. So that would be the requirement of using someone outside of your family, outside of your plan to basically come to terms with a pregnancy for you.

00:20:54:20 - 00:21:17:07
Unknown
We looked at where we were in the industry. We looked at what we want to be able to achieve, to be equitable and fair for all types of families. And we're pleased to say that in looking at the costs and looking at what we can commit to, we're increasing to match the benchmarks or benchmark sister institutions. Right now we're doing about a $10,000 reimbursement for adoptions.

00:21:17:09 - 00:21:49:10
Unknown
And so starting one one, Cornell also will reimburse up to $10,000 for adoption related expenses. We saw our sister institutions do surrogacy benefits also, which we had not had in place. We're adding that effective January one again for surrogacy related expenses. There can be a reimbursement up to $10,000 per surrogacy attempt and up to $30,000 for both adoption and surrogacy over your lifetime.

00:21:49:10 - 00:22:18:03
Unknown
But Cornell, again, we were very excited to kind of bring these numbers current and to offer this new surrogacy benefit. So much more information can be achieved from from Aetna and our offices for the medical related portions and then our assistance for the reimbursement portions. Another area of family formation we focused on to see how we were doing was the areas of fertility.

00:22:18:05 - 00:23:02:05
Unknown
And prior to next year we did have a maximum kind of benefit available on fertility uses, fertility needs, and it was $20,000. It did include receptor KOL IVF, but there needed to be this medical, the AUI, you had to be unable to basically come to fruition with a child. We were looking at that in relation to what's happening in the industry and we also started to look at what the many needs and spoken around the industry about cryopreservation, the ability to delay my family formation.

00:23:02:07 - 00:23:31:00
Unknown
I donate eggs, donating sperm, putting them into storage so that then they can be re reuse to re implemented at a future date. So we didn't have complete cryopreservation. We had it if there were certain medical conditions. Again, we weren't covering sperm donation at all. When we looked at our benchmarking and our benchmarking, here was the tiny, tiny print down here.

00:23:31:00 - 00:23:59:17
Unknown
But our Ivy Plus sister schools, the universities in the network and the national network, and we're pleased to say that we're updating each of these benefits. So again, trying to be kind of in line with adoption, surrogacy, we still are keeping a lifetime maximum. It's $30,000, but we're now going to offer any type of IVF without the medical necessity or the infertility diagnosis requirement.

00:23:59:19 - 00:24:34:05
Unknown
We're also going to be covering the actual retrieval of the storage and the re use of eggs, fetuses and sperm. So we are now offering all of those coverages, hopefully in an attempt to help all the different types of families and family needs we have here at Cornell. So we're very excited to be able to kind of level the playing fields and be very competitive with our sister Ivy Plus schools.

00:24:34:07 - 00:25:13:12
Unknown
Another benefit that we've added to and this has become timely of late traditionally through our Aetna plans, there could be travel and lodging reimbursement. If someone was going to an Institute of Excellence, an Institute of quality, or was undergoing gene therapy. What we are finding now as we look at utilization and we look at people that we now have all across the country, is that sometimes people need to travel for care for other reasons than just going to an Institute of excellence or quality or for gene therapy.

00:25:13:14 - 00:25:51:11
Unknown
And so when we looked at our benchmark, our other schools, what we're seeing and we want to be right there too, is that our health care plan can now cover you for travel and lodging if you need to go further away to get your services performed. So we're using about a 100 mile radius that we're looking at. But basically we are extending that travel and lodging reimbursement benefit for more services, for basically any services for which you need to travel more than 100 miles to actually have those services.

00:25:51:13 - 00:26:16:16
Unknown
Whether that means traveling to another state or traveling to another location, who can provide those services. We're now covering all of that up to a $10,000 see for travel. So that's our new travel and lodging reimbursement. Basically, there's a bunch of footnotes down here. I won't go into all of those, but I mentioned the 100 miles of your home.

00:26:16:18 - 00:26:58:11
Unknown
It needs to be a travel and lodging expenses that the IRS but also see as expenses. So we do follow needs to be a U.S. domestic travel and lodging expenses. It can be for the covered member and one companion to travel to actually get to those services. It can include airfare, train or bus travel, etc.. And the unfortunately within the lodging, that pretty typical IRS standard we needed to follow, which is a reimbursement of $50 per person per night up to a total lodging benefit per instance of $100.

00:26:58:13 - 00:27:24:14
Unknown
And so, again, a new a new kind of coverage. Both Aetna and our team can provide more information on this. It goes into effect January one, but we're pleased to be able to allow your sphere of services to go a little bit larger is another interesting area that we found that we were a little bit out of whack on was out-of-network reimbursement.

00:27:24:16 - 00:27:58:21
Unknown
As you know, a lot of our plans have in-network expenses and out-of-network expenses. What we saw in New York State do recently was really clarify what they were going to cover for out-of-network reimbursement. So New York State moved to relying on Medicare's fee schedule, but then reimbursing up to 275% of that schedule. So to keep our plans somewhat in line with the state proposing to do that in their coverage, we're also moving to that under our endowed health plans.

00:27:58:21 - 00:28:38:24
Unknown
So we're looking at the National Advantage program it's called, which is basically the Medicare fee schedule, and we're paying 275% of those costs are going to be considered the reasonable costs out of another exciting Arab area that we're improving on. Cornell's always had rehabilitative medicine covered in our Aetna Endowed plans so that if someone had the use of a limb or had lost that use through damage or injury or age to help you rehab, to get it back, what we realized as we were leaving a gap.

00:28:38:24 - 00:29:18:03
Unknown
So for individuals who never had the use of that limb or coverage or ability and so starting one one, we're going to match what we call rehabilitative services, which is helping you from the start, not just re helping you to gain them back. So there's going to be physical therapy, occupational therapy services now covered for both. If you were able to do it and stopped or if you've never been able to perform those services, speech therapy ability to speech therapy will be included in that, which is an important new improvement for for those facing that.

00:29:18:05 - 00:29:48:15
Unknown
And basically the physical therapy, occupational therapy, short term therapy, those unfortunately can't be on the high deductible health plan. There's some regulations on what you can do with high deductible health plan, but we're adding these coverages, as you'll see across our active nonprofit act, the health plan pre 65, 65, and they're going to be covered at 90% with just a 10% co-insurance.

00:29:48:17 - 00:30:23:16
Unknown
And finally, we we saw a little discrepancy in what we've been historically doing for hearing aid coverage. So we're excited to kind of bring ourselves in line with other areas. So what we currently have is 1500 dollars maximum coverage per year once every two years. If you were under 13 and 1500 dollars maximum per year every three years, if you were over 13, we saw that we were slightly out of whack with with our competitors and the industry.

00:30:23:18 - 00:30:43:08
Unknown
So we're pleased to say that for adults, for those 13 plus, we're now going to lower that. So we will do the 1500 or 315 to $3000 per year every three years. So it's adding kind of one year of and return

00:30:43:08 - 00:30:52:21
Unknown
a lot more information will be available on these to your Aetna representatives. So what we call our concierge service, but just wanted to cover them.

00:30:52:23 - 00:31:00:08
Unknown
I thought it was highlight, but I realize we've been talking a bit on them, but we're excited about them, so we want to make sure you know that these have changed.

00:31:00:08 - 00:31:20:02
Unknown
want to jump over to dental and vision coverage. Some of you may have taken these voluntary plans, some not, for our MetLife dental program. In 2023, we had about 5900 faculty and staff take one of the two dental programs.

00:31:20:04 - 00:31:46:03
Unknown
What we've seen is that people who enroll in these plans use these plans, which is a great thing for us to see. We improved these plans. For those of you who recall and have been here for a little bit, we improved these plans in 2020. And basically when we looked at the use that's been there, MetLife came back and said they felt they were going to have to increase costs by 5% going into next year.

00:31:46:05 - 00:32:16:13
Unknown
What we did was actually lower that rate for 2024 and set a cap going forward. So in what you'll see in the rates for 2024, we did have to share more costs. It's 3.2% higher rates in 24 and we put in a cap so that even if utilization is very high for 2025, they cannot increase more than six and a half percent.

00:32:16:15 - 00:32:42:12
Unknown
We are seeing utilization grow. We're seeing a lot of great usage of this very valuable plan. But we wanted to try to cap how much more you'd pay for MetLife Vision, where year we got just under 5000 faculty and staff enrolled. The utilization has was high when we rolled this one out in 2020. Utilization is kind of dropped down a little bit in the last year.

00:32:42:14 - 00:33:08:12
Unknown
And so we're we're pleased to say that we heavily negotiated with MetLife and we actually have a rate guarantee, a rate pass for the next four years. So the current rates in MetLife station will stay for 2425 26 and 27. And again, a voluntary plan, you may only need it some years. So you've got some comfort of knowing you can come and go in the years that you need it.

00:33:08:12 - 00:33:12:14
Unknown
And at least for the next four years, the rate is guaranteed.

00:33:12:14 - 00:33:27:22
Unknown
Just to give you. I won't spend a lot of time here, but I wanted to just show you when we talk about percentages, like an increase of 3.2% on dental, it it sometimes is confusing when we talk about how low the premiums started and where it's going.

00:33:27:24 - 00:33:58:00
Unknown
So that 3.2% on the dental plans for the enhanced plan, which is a little bit more expensive to offer that increase that people will see. It's in the area of a dollar 41 to maximum $4.60. And for the standard plan, a little under a dollar to about 291 $2 and 91 per month of an increase. And as you mentioned, the vision plan, no increase.

00:33:58:06 - 00:34:24:19
Unknown
So let's talk about a couple other benefits just to share information. And I promise we're going to get to the point where we can take more questions. There's a lot of words on this slide. I'm not going to talk through them all. Hopefully this won't be news to anyone. Unfortunately, New York life, our partner for voluntary life insurance, has determined that across their book of business they're going to change what they offer.

00:34:25:00 - 00:34:54:05
Unknown
So starting one one 2024, they will no longer be offering voluntary group universal life coverage, but instead they'll be offering group voluntary term life coverage. So basically what we're group related, what we're talking about and what a number of communications have gone out about is what's going to happen. If I have a policy this year, what's going to happen to it next year?

00:34:54:07 - 00:35:25:08
Unknown
The good news is we've got about 3300 faculty and staff who are in these policies. Of those 3300, only 300, we're using the aspect of universal life that makes it unique. And what makes universal life unique as compared to terms voluntary term life is that universal life had this ability that you could put in extra dollars above your premium to build a cash accumulation.

00:35:25:13 - 00:35:51:10
Unknown
So on that cash accumulation fund could be used for emergencies in the future to pay premiums in the future, or in some cases to buy a paid up life insurance policy when you left Cornell. So cash accumulation is an important part of universal life as he mentioned, only about 300 faculty and staff out of 3300 were using that.

00:35:51:12 - 00:36:18:08
Unknown
So in effect, for 3000 of faculty and staff, they really had just a voluntary term life insurance policy. It was only going to pay in the case of their death. So what we've negotiated with New York life, they couldn't change their mind. They're they're stopping, well, first sales going forward, they're going to offer a voluntary term continuing to our faculty and staff after one one.

00:36:18:10 - 00:36:52:06
Unknown
And anyone who currently has a job. Well, if they do nothing, that coverage automatically convert to a voluntary term, same coverage amount, and the current premiums for you will carry over to the voluntary term. So if you're one of those 3000 and you did nothing, you're going to get a confirmation in December that says either you took action or you defaulted and you now have a term life insurance policy on one one for the same coverage amount.

00:36:52:08 - 00:37:16:09
Unknown
One thing that is kind of an added feature for voluntary term life is starting after one one. Every time you have a salary increase, that coverage amount will adjust automatically to reflect your salary increase. That's not going to wait until January of each year. It's going to happen as your increases happen and that was a positive thing for a lot of the feedback we heard.

00:37:16:09 - 00:37:42:09
Unknown
People wanted their coverage to match their salary and so now it's going to do that throughout the year. So just again, if you were involved in this, you know, you got a lot of mailings, you got an email from us and three mailings in New York life. What's important to know is you'll get one more confirmation, probably the end of this month, beginning of December, it's going to say, because we heard from you or because we didn't hear from you.

00:37:42:11 - 00:38:02:15
Unknown
Here's what you have on one line. That confirmation, if you read it through, it isn't what you want. You'll still have another opportunity to change your mind before the end of this calendar year. So a lot of words there. I said a lot of words. Hopefully it was a little bit clearer. There will be more information coming from New York.

00:38:02:17 - 00:38:04:08
Unknown
If you have a policy.

00:38:04:08 - 00:38:27:02
Unknown
a couple of things just wanted to share. And then as I promised, we're going to go to two questions. A couple other things happen on January one and just wanted to share them here. One of them is just for those of you who who follow this and it has an impact on for 2020 for the Social Security Administration set their new salary caps.

00:38:27:04 - 00:38:59:02
Unknown
So if you are receiving income and you're paying Social Security tax, you should know that that tax will continue to be withheld in 2024. It'll be on the first $268,000, $268,200 worth of earnings, and then people hit a cap if they earn above that. So that that does have a new cap in 2024 Medicare tax, which is, I believe, 1.45%.

00:38:59:04 - 00:39:34:23
Unknown
That continues on all earnings. So we're talking about caps on this slide we just thought would put that in there. It's it impacts you. Social Security tax will stop at 168 to I believe it was at 162 eight, something like that this year. So it has gone up for 24. The other thing we just wanted to mention here, and we've got plenty of other sessions on our retirement plans, some of those have occurred already and so there's recorded versions of those sessions from Fidelity, TIAA and our retirement team.

00:39:35:00 - 00:40:06:23
Unknown
But just as a reminder, people ask this all the time and we want to make sure you, you know, your abilities so there are some salary cap changes and some contribution changes for one one 2024 under our endowed active health plans. Health plans are active retirement plans. So for Curb our Cornell University Retirement Plan, our discretionary contributions remaining at 10% going into next year, they they gave a new salary cap.

00:40:07:00 - 00:40:44:19
Unknown
So we as an employer can only give 10% on the first $345,000 worth of earnings just in case anyone has that situation or is in multiple jobs that have earnings that go above that, our 10% can only go on the first 345 for voluntary contributions. This is something that that affects many more people. If you wanted to voluntarily contribute to our what we call our TDA plan, our tax deferred annuity plan, either through Fidelity or or TIAA, I'm sorry, Fidelity or TIAA under age.

00:40:44:19 - 00:41:13:19
Unknown
If you're under age 50, you can contribute in 2024 up to 23,000. That's gone up slightly from this current year. And if you're 50 or older, you get a little catch up there. You can contribute up to 30,500 for 2024. And if you are eligible for our 447 B retirement plan, it's more of a deferred compensation plan. It's all your contributions.

00:41:13:21 - 00:41:52:23
Unknown
You could actually contribute up to $23,000 in addition into that plan if your earnings in 2024 are expected to be greater than $231,150. So, again, a lot of numbers on this and these are posted other places on our websites, but just thought we'd add it. Here is another one, one 2024 Just in closing on one more thing for one 124, I mentioned it briefly earlier, formulary in our prescription drug plans, there is a formulary that gets adjusted each January one and each July one.

00:41:53:00 - 00:42:21:12
Unknown
They have just finalized what the January one adjustments will be for our formulary under Optumrx acts. And if you are currently prescribed to take a drug that's being impacted, either moving around within those cost structures or perhaps being replaced by another drug, you'll receive a direct mailing from Optumrx telling you what's changing for one one so you can actually speak to your doctor about that.

00:42:21:14 - 00:42:26:00
Unknown
That formulary, as soon as we receive it will be posted on our website. Also.

00:42:26:06 - 00:42:51:02
Unknown
It's been my pleasure to talk to you. I hope that it was helpful. And if you have more questions again, please see us at Panacea. Please reach out to our service center. Please attender or vendor partner presentations and or visit them at their tables. They can actually give you more information. Also with that, I'm going to thank everyone who attended.

00:42:51:02 - 00:43:03:16
Unknown
Thank you to the Benefit Services Administration team. You're why I'm still here. So really appreciate our work together and really appreciate what we can do for our faculty and staff.

[Transcript auto-generated.]

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:05:22
Unknown
Like you said, my name is John. I've been with Davis for about ten years now, so let's go ahead and hop right in.

00:00:05:22 - 00:00:10:08
Unknown
So this is the Cornell University Endowed Vision Plan for the year of 2024.

00:00:10:08 - 00:00:21:14
Unknown
So what we're going to talk about today is the value of the vision benefits, getting the most out of your benefits, a review of the past year's statistics and a review of the actual vision plan itself.

00:00:21:14 - 00:00:30:12
Unknown
the realities of vision care about two thirds or 61% of people who have not seen an eye doctor say it's because they have no vision problems.

00:00:30:14 - 00:00:58:12
Unknown
Only 40% of those people go to the eye doctors for optical services in addition to care for chronic diseases. The reason we bring up these stats are the routine eye exam is not only for vision correction services, for glasses or contacts. It's actually easiest to see early signs of high chronic conditions, including diabetes, high cholesterol. We're going to get into a few others as well in the later slide.

00:00:58:14 - 00:01:06:06
Unknown
About one third or 37% of the people have high confidence in their doctors ability to identify and detect diabetes. Early,

00:01:06:06 - 00:01:12:09
Unknown
39% of consumers say costs and affordability is the reason they don't go to see their eye doctor, which is why we have this plan.

00:01:12:09 - 00:01:20:05
Unknown
So why do I need vision coverage? Here's three perceptions versus reality. So eye exams only detect vision issues and chronic conditions in the eye.

00:01:20:05 - 00:01:28:04
Unknown
That is not true. More than 25 health conditions from diabetes, grave disease, high cholesterol can be identified through an eye exam.

00:01:28:04 - 00:01:41:12
Unknown
Diabetes is detected and diagnosed by an MD, a PCP and endocrine chronologies. Not by an eye doctor. While 20% of people first learn that they have diabetes or early signs of it through their routine eye exam

00:01:41:12 - 00:01:44:12
Unknown
cost is a significant barrier to getting an eye exam.

00:01:44:14 - 00:01:51:05
Unknown
Eye exams are the most cost effective, least invasive method of looking inside a person's body to see their overall health.

00:01:51:05 - 00:01:56:22
Unknown
As I mentioned before, here's a list of different chronic conditions. The eye exams can

00:01:56:22 - 00:01:58:23
Unknown
detect early conditions of.

00:01:58:23 - 00:02:08:19
Unknown
You'll see Crohn's disease, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cataracts like coma, high cholesterol tumors, Lyme disease, just to name a few

00:02:08:19 - 00:02:13:19
Unknown
cataracts, affects more than 24.4 million Americans aged 40 or older,

00:02:13:19 - 00:02:20:04
Unknown
and diabetes is a leading cause of new cases of blindness among adults from the ages of 20 to 74.

00:02:20:06 - 00:02:28:05
Unknown
20% of these people first learn they have diabetes, like I said before, through their eye exam. So it's very important to get your eyes examined at once a year.

00:02:28:05 - 00:02:36:02
Unknown
Diabetes kills more people than breast cancer and AIDS combined, so it is important to partner with your eye care professional and get your eye exams yearly.

00:02:36:02 - 00:02:38:00
Unknown
So we talk about eye professionals.

00:02:38:02 - 00:02:55:11
Unknown
Let me go ahead and explain what the three types are. You've got optician optometrist and ophthalmologist. The optician is trained. Their training is varies by state, but basically they're there to fill prescriptions, make glasses, or they fit you for contacts. That's about their general responsibilities.

00:02:55:11 - 00:03:03:19
Unknown
Yeah, Tommy Trust has a bit of a medical profession, is a has a doctorate degree, and so has some medical professionals abilities.

00:03:04:00 - 00:03:24:12
Unknown
They perform the annual eye exams themselves. They fit the context in glasses, just like the optician. And they may also refer you to an ophthalmologist for more intensive procedures. So when you think ophthalmologist, you're going to think medical doctor. They're the ones that do the eye surgeries. They can do everything else, the optometrist and the optician do. But they also perform eye surgeries.

00:03:24:12 - 00:03:37:15
Unknown
They are medical doctors. They have a doctor of medicine or a doctor of osteopathy. That path like medicine. And again, they also perform eye exams, fit contacts and glasses, and they could perform eye surgeries. Like I stated.

00:03:37:15 - 00:03:49:19
Unknown
So here's some little stats for the about the last year of Cornell University by the numbers. So member enrollment 49% of the enrollment in our system is asked subscribers or the members themselves.

00:03:49:21 - 00:03:56:16
Unknown
We actually have 51% of the total number is dependents. We have a little bit higher dependent to member ratio.

00:03:56:16 - 00:04:03:19
Unknown
Nearly 40% of those enrolled utilize the benefit in the last year and the average cost per claim was $109.

00:04:03:19 - 00:04:11:23
Unknown
We do have our own website which we'll get into how to use and log in later, but we've had over 5000 web logins in the last year

00:04:11:23 - 00:04:12:18
Unknown
with the benefit.

00:04:12:18 - 00:04:20:06
Unknown
We are going to talk about how to get free frames. So frames paid in full or at least a low cost frame, 58% of the membership use that

00:04:20:06 - 00:04:28:07
Unknown
eye exam is about 17% of covered members received an eye exam. So we're really pushing for that eye exam, which is why I did those few slides prior.

00:04:28:07 - 00:04:32:05
Unknown
When anyone calls the call center, the top three reasons are benefit explanations.

00:04:32:05 - 00:04:32:15
Unknown
So just

00:04:32:15 - 00:04:44:14
Unknown
explaining how the benefit works, claim inquiry. So checking in on claims as well as eligibility inquiry, making sure remember member dependents are added correctly, everything's looking properly in our system.

00:04:44:14 - 00:04:58:02
Unknown
All right, let's go ahead and look at the benefit itself for the eye exam. The routine eye exam includes dilation and refraction, and it is a $0 copay in network, so it'll be completely covered for you at an in network provider.

00:04:58:04 - 00:05:02:16
Unknown
If you choose to go out of network, we will reimburse you $50 out of the total cost.

00:05:02:16 - 00:05:18:00
Unknown
If you choose glasses once every year, your frames are covered with a $0 copay. If you choose a Davis collection frame, those frames are located in private offices. Mom and pop shops won't be in retail locations.

00:05:18:00 - 00:05:21:24
Unknown
You should ask for their the collection and we would cover those with a $0 co-pay.

00:05:21:24 - 00:05:46:08
Unknown
No cost to you any of those frames that are on there. We do have some designer frames and things of that nature as well. If you go to Vision Works, it's a retail established that we doesn't have a collection. We cover the first $200 towards the frame and then you get a 20% discount on the overage. If you go to another eye care professional such as Walmart, Sam's Club, things of that nature that are retailers or you get a frame that's not on our collection.

00:05:46:08 - 00:06:21:19
Unknown
At the private offices, we cover the first $150 towards those frames and then you get a 20% discount off the overage. You go out of network frames. No matter where you go, what you get, we're going to reimburse you up to $50 for lenses for those glasses, standard plastic lenses for single vision line, bifocal line, tri focal or lenticular lenses are going to be a $20 copay if you look to get any add ons or extras, tinting, scratch coating pockets, polycarbonate and oversize lenses just to name a few are covered in full.

00:06:21:21 - 00:06:45:09
Unknown
There are additional lens options. We're going to go into the following slides that are going to have reduce costs or co-pays instead of the full retail value. Those things would be the Nolan bifocal progressive's anti-reflective coating, UV and scratch coating. If you get lenses out of network maps, the reimbursement is 40 to $100 and that includes the lenses and any lens options.

00:06:45:09 - 00:06:48:17
Unknown
So the maximum reimbursement total would be up to $100. Basically

00:06:48:17 - 00:07:06:17
Unknown
contacts you can get contacts instead of glasses once a year. If you do get collection contacts at the local mom and pop or independent providers, then you would be able to get disposable for boxes of disposable contacts for a $0 copay or planned replacement. So you get two boxes for a $0 co-pay.

00:07:06:19 - 00:07:29:01
Unknown
There's no out-of-network reimbursement for collection contact because it's only something that's available for members in network. If you go anywhere else in network or you get contacts that are not on the collection contacts, we will cover the first $150 towards the contacts, plus 50% off any overages

00:07:29:01 - 00:07:37:01
Unknown
for out-of-network cost or coverage. We do cover the first 150 or reimburse up to $150 towards your contacts.

00:07:37:03 - 00:07:56:15
Unknown
The contact lens fitting fee is a special contact lens exam that is included with your eye exam that happens when you do get fitted for contact. That is a yearly exam if you get it With the collection contacts, there's a $20 co-pay for the fitting and that's that's all you'll have to pay if you go outside of the collection.

00:07:56:20 - 00:08:18:16
Unknown
We give a 15% discount on the providers. You will usual and customary fees. There is no out-of-network reimbursement for the fitting fee or the fitting. And just so you know, your allowances for the frame or contact lenses network has to be used all at once. Meaning if you don't spend the full amount, the remaining amount will be forfeited at that time.

00:08:18:16 - 00:08:43:24
Unknown
Let's talk about some of those extra lens options. As I see it, it's dated plastic lenses covered in full oversize lenses covered polycarbonate for children is also covered, but for adults. So anyone 19 or older, it would be a $30 co-pay progressive. The no line bifocals. We have four tiers higher. The tier, the higher the co-pay, the higher the quality of the product.

00:08:44:01 - 00:08:50:19
Unknown
We have 54 standard 94 premium 144 ultra and 175 for ultimate.

00:08:50:19 - 00:09:17:16
Unknown
We also have the high index. Those are the higher the excuse me, the thicker glasses for really high prescriptions. The 1.67 is a $55 co-pay and the 1.7 for thickness would be a $120 co-pay. Now let's actually talk about the lens coatings themselves. Tinting is covered in full scratch, coat resistant coating is covered, UV coating or ultraviolet coating, that's a $12 co-pay.

00:09:17:19 - 00:09:39:13
Unknown
The really important thing that has been really in the news lately, especially for glasses or any kind of working with computers, is blue light. We have a blue light filter that's a $15 co-pay, just like the Progressive. We also have the anti-reflective coating and four tiers. The higher the tier, the higher the cost or of the copay, but also the higher the quality of the product.

00:09:39:15 - 00:10:07:04
Unknown
Your standard anti-reflective coating is 35, premium is 48, Ultra is 60 and ultimate is 85. Then you've got photo chromatic lenses as most people know them as transitions, but transitions is actually a name brand. The actual medical term for those lenses are photo chromatic. That's a $65 copay, polarized lenses. Those are the lenses that are for prescription sunglasses.

00:10:07:04 - 00:10:09:24
Unknown
You can polarize your lenses with a $75 copay,

00:10:09:24 - 00:10:25:23
Unknown
more value in your benefits. Everyone receives additional savings. Being a member of Davis Vision Biomet life savings on laser surgery and hearing services. So laser surgery, you do get a $500 reimbursement per member

00:10:25:23 - 00:10:36:10
Unknown
for Lasik surgery. Surgery if you do choose to do it through our coverage. But on top of that, members get cost effective prices on the surgery with a discount of up to 50% through qual site.

00:10:36:10 - 00:10:57:01
Unknown
Also, for hearing AIDS members can save up to 40% on brand name hearing aids and have access to a nationwide network of licensed hearing professionals. Through your hearing network. But please note that this hearing aid discount does not coordinate benefits with your medical insurance. It is a separate discount for our members. So if the provider is willing to combine the offers, that's up to them.

00:10:57:01 - 00:11:00:22
Unknown
We cannot force them. It is just a separate discount benefit.

00:11:00:22 - 00:11:28:11
Unknown
A lot of people nowadays like to shop online. We do have some online online retailers excuse me that are bringing online retail experience and a wide product selection to your in-network benefit. So you can use your in-network benefits at these locations. Online glasses dot com The fitting one 800 contacts and vision works dot com all allow you to utilize your in-network coverage which is the better coverage online through those sites

00:11:28:11 - 00:11:31:19
Unknown
are 38 million members enjoy these innovative resources.

00:11:31:21 - 00:12:01:10
Unknown
So we have the exclusive collection we talked about on trend frames with retail price tags up to $195 available at no cost to you. If you get one of those collection frames, there is a repair or replacement of your frames and your lenses. So if there's any chips, cracks, things of that nature or your you break your frame, we have a one year warranty on that so that they will be replaced with no cost to you.

00:12:01:12 - 00:12:19:13
Unknown
If you do use out of network, you can use our mobile app which is right next to right next to it here. But we do direct deposit through Zelle so you can go right on to the app, submit the claim and have it process that it direct deposits directly into your bank account through Zelle or you can wait for the check, which does take a little longer.

00:12:19:13 - 00:12:43:10
Unknown
We have helpful customer service. We have a U.S. based call center in Maryland as well as in New York. The one in New York is actually in Latham. Just a quick phone call away and is available seven days a week. And like I said, the mobile app, it is user friendly, it has ways to submit claims, look up benefits, find providers.

00:12:43:11 - 00:12:58:18
Unknown
Everything you would need on the website is basically on the app as well. So there are QR codes for the Google Play Store and as well as the Apple Store. I'll give it a couple moments just in case anyone wants to scan those. But information on all of these things that I've talked about can also be found at MetLife.

00:12:58:18 - 00:13:02:23
Unknown
Ecom Backslash, Cornell hyphen vision backslash

00:13:02:23 - 00:13:15:18
Unknown
this is one of my favorite slides is vision coverage, right for me. So these are your costs for the plan all the way up to 1231 of 2027 because we've just renewed for four years with a rate guarantee

00:13:15:18 - 00:13:28:07
Unknown
employees only 557 employee plus spouse or domestic partner $11.13 employee plus children is $11.69 and family coverage is $16.28.

00:13:28:08 - 00:13:56:17
Unknown
Obviously, next to it is the annual cost because we multiply those numbers by 12. But what I really wanted to get into is comparing those costs to your everyday expenses. On average, a normal person would dining with dining out or going out to eat would spend $264 per month on food. Just eat out clothing, $161 per month, even traveling $95 per month between driving gas, things of that nature.

00:13:56:19 - 00:14:16:09
Unknown
Your daily cup of coffee is $91 per month. Streaming services, $85 per month on average. So just to show you the cost that you're paying for all these things, it's cheap, cheaper for your for your premium to basically have eye insurance to cover you for that routine eye exam, which is also some people's reasons for not going to get their eye exams because of the cost.

00:14:16:09 - 00:14:24:21
Unknown
So eye exams are the most cost effective and least intrusive way to protect, excuse me, detect serious health conditions at a premium, affordable premiums.

00:14:24:21 - 00:14:40:01
Unknown
As I said before, you can visit us online at MetLife dot com or excuse me backslash Cornell hyphen vision backslash you can get benefits submarines eyecare professional locator. So you can find providers, you can explore the collection frames right on the website.

00:14:40:03 - 00:15:01:13
Unknown
There's a Spanish language version available and there's a brief educational videos as well. Or if you'd like, you can also give us a call your calls at 1833ia life for Life Support. These are Eastern Standard Times Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 11 p.m., Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and then have automated services or an IVR that works 24 seven

[Transcript auto-generated.]

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:20:00
Unknown
So remains Christian Smith. And I'm really excited to be here to help you kind of think through how to create a good foundation on how to think about and how to plan for your retirement income to make our retirement together today as beneficial as possible. Now, please let us know if you have questions as we move along.

00:00:20:00 - 00:00:53:11
Unknown
By utilizing the Q&A box, we'll make sure that we address those at the end because ultimately we want to make sure that you have what you need when you leave your today in our have all of your questions answered. Now, whether you are ten years away from retirement or more than ten years of age in which family, it's never too late to to start making sure that you have the right plan in place in order to create the efficient income that you need in retirement and income that's going to last as long as you do.

00:00:53:13 - 00:01:17:20
Unknown
So let's get started. Now, in order to make a good plan, it's really important to understand what can upset your plan. So let's begin by reviewing the risks that we are all going to face in retirement. Because if we understand how these risks can impact our plan on the we can create a plan to mitigate those risks as much as possible.

00:01:17:22 - 00:01:39:13
Unknown
So the first risk that you see on your screen is longevity. Basically, what that means is outliving your savings. Now, in the past, I've asked audiences like this, how many of you think that you'll have at least ten years in retirement? Or how about 20 years? Or how about 30 years? And as I increase the years, you know, more and more hands drop.

00:01:39:15 - 00:02:01:22
Unknown
Well, statistically, there's actually a 48% chance that at least one person in a couple that retires at age 65 will live to age 95. So stop and think about what you were doing. 30 years ago. I think that was 1998, if I did my math right. It was a long time ago. Right. A lot happened over that time frame.

00:02:01:23 - 00:02:22:10
Unknown
Maybe some things you planned for or some things you didn't. But think about then that that frame of time and how how would you have created income for that entire period if you didn't have a salary? So thinking about that and as you enter into retirement is really the frame of mind that we want to really be thinking about.

00:02:22:10 - 00:02:45:14
Unknown
And all of the unexpected things that could happen could still happen in retirement. So we're just making sure that we've got a plan to make sure that you've got the income you need, regardless of what unexpected events may occur. Now, next on your screen, you see market risk. Now, traditionally, you may think of this as as volatile Lety or that your values in your portfolio will fluctuate.

00:02:45:14 - 00:03:06:06
Unknown
And this is not something, you know, that you haven't had to deal with as you've been saving. But in retirement, we actually look at this a little bit differently. So there's two important points to kind of understand about market risk in retirement. The first is if the market goes down and you are withdrawing money from your retirement plan as well.

00:03:06:07 - 00:03:33:20
Unknown
Right. You won't have as much time to recover from those losses the same way that you did when you were saving. Now, secondly, if the market goes down early in your retirement, this is going to impact that future income as well. So making sure that we have a plan in place that no matter what the market does, you're still going to be in a good position to have income is another thing to consider as you're putting together your plan.

00:03:33:22 - 00:04:08:19
Unknown
Now, next, you'll see cognitive risk. And this may or may not be something that you have witnessed firsthand, but statistics indicate that the likelihood of being impacted by either dementia or Alzheimer's is on the rise. Now, even if they don't impact you directly, we do know that in addition, decision making becomes more challenging with age. Think about for a moment the number of decisions that are needed to manage your portfolio, when to rebalance, how to rebalance, how to make withdrawals, to create income for life.

00:04:08:21 - 00:04:36:13
Unknown
It's challenging enough as it is, but it can be even more challenging over retirement as we're faced with the impacts of age. So as you think about creating your income plan with your advisor or financial consultant, think about whether or not you want to take on that responsibility or include some component of automatically creating an income as you as you do decide what's right for you.

00:04:36:15 - 00:04:59:02
Unknown
Now, finally, you see on the screen inflation. Now, this is something I know that we're all very familiar with. We've seen over many years periods of low inflation, periods of high inflation, especially in recent years. And while we don't know what inflation is going to look like every year into the future, what we do know is that it will likely continue to rise over time.

00:04:59:04 - 00:05:25:03
Unknown
So just think back to what you used to pay for gas or milk or bread. Ten, 20, 30 years ago. Right. It's a lot more expensive today. Every time I go into the grocery store, I'm just like shocked of like, how little even $100 will buy. But we can see that in the future, similar price increases are likely going to happen, too.

00:05:25:03 - 00:05:59:03
Unknown
Right. So as we think about that long retirement period, we've got to make sure that our income is able to keep up with inflation as well. So in our time together today, we're going to discuss some strategies to address these risks. But keep in mind that how you plan will vary really depending on your specific situation, your goals, what's important to you with you and your advisor or your consultant can work together to develop a diversified income plan that really supports your goals and make sure that it lasts as long as you do.

00:05:59:05 - 00:06:24:02
Unknown
So we've talked through some of the risks in retirement and the importance of creating an income that's going to last for life and also be able to mitigate those risks. But let's talk about exactly which assets we can use to provide income for life. Now, one that's probably popping in your mind is Social Security. Social Security is an important component of creating efficient lifetime income.

00:06:24:04 - 00:06:54:16
Unknown
But as we all know, Social Security was never meant to be our sole source of income. So when we look at other asset types, that can also provide lifetime income. We think about annuities right now, an annuity like Social Security provides income for as long as you live. It's a contract between an insurance company and a retiree where in exchange for a lump sum of money, the insurance company will pay the retiree for as long as they live.

00:06:54:18 - 00:07:23:07
Unknown
Now, there are a lot of types of annuities out there, but for today's purposes, we're going to focus on two types fixed annuities that provide a steady income stream and variable annuities that provide lifetime payments that vary based on the market. But that variability can also help keep pace with inflation. Now, both types can be found in your retirement plan or can be purchased directly from an insurance company.

00:07:23:09 - 00:07:54:01
Unknown
But the benefit of an annuity is that it will continue to pay a monthly income stream for as long as you live. So let's look at an example just to see how annuities might operate in retirement and specifically how they mitigate longevity risk. So our example here is a twin sisters where one sister, Tara, chooses lifetime income from a fixed annuity and the other sister, Rachel, chooses to take a systematic withdrawal.

00:07:54:03 - 00:08:17:10
Unknown
Spoiler alert Rachel ends up running out of money, but she runs out of money at an age where she still has more than a 50% chance of still being alive and needing income. And this will be true no matter the return withdrawal assumptions that we use to create the model. So let's look at the risk and reward of each option right.

00:08:17:12 - 00:08:43:21
Unknown
So for Tara, she annuitize her accumulation of $100,000 and she got 70 $500 a year in income. The upside there is that she has lifetime income, or as long as she's alive, she will have that 70 $500. The downside, though, is if she dies young, she doesn't leave an estate. There's nothing left behind because remember, she's exchanged that money for the income stream.

00:08:43:23 - 00:09:09:24
Unknown
Now, for Rachel, she decided that she'd like to take a systematic withdrawal instead for her hundred thousand dollar accumulation. And she didn't annuitize. Now, her upside is, while she dies, young, she could potentially leave in a state of liquid portfolio to pass down to her loved ones. The downside, though, is if she lives to her life expectancy or really even earlier, as you can see on your screen, she won't have income.

00:09:10:01 - 00:09:40:08
Unknown
So she'll have to make some tough decisions. Maybe she moves in with Tara. Maybe. I don't know if they're if they're good sisters or not. But the reality is, is that that is a real risk. Right. Is that systematic withdrawals? Does not protect against longevity like the antibodies do. Now, this outliving income, more than 50% at the time, as you can see illustrated here, is really based on a mathematical concept that we call the life annuity principle.

00:09:40:10 - 00:10:04:03
Unknown
Now, it's mentioned in numerous academic papers. You can certainly you know, research on your own. But one in particular I'd like to mention it is by the TIAA Institute. You can visit their website. The title of that paper is called Annuities. Now Later and Never. It's a great read. I encourage you to take a look at it and look at at least the summary and see what it has to say.

00:10:04:05 - 00:10:26:16
Unknown
Now we know that annuities do really great things, especially when it comes to protecting against longevity. But before we just decide to put all of our money in a fixed annuity, let's look and see what happens when inflation enters the picture. So while a fixed annuity certainly does help with longevity, it's going to create that income for as long as you live.

00:10:26:18 - 00:10:51:10
Unknown
It doesn't protect against inflation because it's providing a fixed payment. So if you look at the chart on this page, it becomes clear that the fixed payment of $1,000 a month is going to lose purchasing power over time as inflation does what it does right now, even if the income from that annuity was higher. The fact is that a dollar today won't buy the same things as a dollar.

00:10:51:12 - 00:11:21:14
Unknown
20 years from now will buy. So what do we do about that? Well, this slide is a repeat of our twin sister study just a few minutes ago. But using a variable annuity instead of a fixed annuity. So as you can see, the variable annuity payment varies based on the market, but it's increased over time. The systematic withdrawal, as you can see in the light blue line there, produces the same amount of income as the variable annuity.

00:11:21:14 - 00:11:53:24
Unknown
But it runs out. So as I noted earlier, this concept is true under all rates of return and withdrawal assumptions. So if we know now that the variable annuities can help with longevity and can help with inflation as well, what about market risk? So let's take a look at that. So as you can see from the slide. Income from variable annuities will increase when the underlying account performs well, but decrease when the underlying account doesn't do well.

00:11:54:01 - 00:12:16:01
Unknown
Now, historically, variable annuities have outpaced inflation over a period of many years. But as you can see here, there are definitely years where the payment from the annuity dipped below inflation. The idea here is that while we don't know what inflation is going to be from year to year, we do know that over time the variable annuity can provide protection against inflation.

00:12:16:03 - 00:12:40:06
Unknown
But depending on the market, income will fluctuate. So what could be another strategy for handling market risk? So let's take another look at a withdrawal strategy that increases with inflation over time. There are times in the stock market when the stock market is performing really well like it did in the nineties. As you can see here with the blue line, that this kind of strategy actually does really well.

00:12:40:06 - 00:13:00:10
Unknown
And it actually ends up with a larger estate than what you begin with. But when the market is doing not so well, this strategy can lead to asset depletion as you can see on the bottom gold line, which which also means an end of an income stream. Now, for example, look at how the market performed for somebody who retired in 2001.

00:13:00:10 - 00:13:24:06
Unknown
Again. That is the bottom gold line. They would have run out of money and income by 2017. That's only about 16 years right now. The 1990 retiree, they actually would have continued receiving income and end up with a larger balance than what they started with. But all of this has to do with how the market itself is performing.

00:13:24:08 - 00:13:47:12
Unknown
And as we know, this is impossible to predict. We don't know what the market is going to do from year to year. So let's take another look at a different withdrawal strategy to see if we can find a proper solution. So you may have heard about the 4% withdrawal strategy. Right now, again, we see that sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

00:13:47:14 - 00:14:11:17
Unknown
But think about this, too. 4% income may not be enough. If that is all the income that you're generating for your lifestyle in retirement, it may not be enough to provide you the means to live life the way that you're used to living it. So we've reviewed several strategies, right? And none of them seem to be stacking up to mitigate against all of the risks that we've discussed.

00:14:11:17 - 00:14:39:20
Unknown
So maybe you're asking yourself, Hey, Christian, are you trying to pull a fast one on me here? What gives? Right? What's the right answer? Was I mentioned at the beginning of our call, it's all about diversification. So as my mother used to say, it takes a village, Right? So as you can kind of see from this summary, from what we've reviewed so far, each income strategy has risks that it covers, but it also has some risks that it doesn't.

00:14:39:22 - 00:15:03:05
Unknown
But when we put them together, you get a diversified income plan that helps to mitigate all of the retirement risks that we talked about. Now, in addition to helping plan for those risks, a diversified income plan helps to ensure liquidity or access to pools of money when you need it. So for your emergency home repairs or your emergency trips to Disney World.

00:15:03:07 - 00:15:35:20
Unknown
I take those, but it also helps with your ability to plan for any legacy goals that you may have some gifting or money that you want to leave behind for your loved ones. But how does this all fit together? Let's take a look. Now, based on years of research and experience in helping participants create an income plan, DEI has developed a point of view or a starting point to help you think about where to begin creating your diversified income plan.

00:15:35:22 - 00:16:05:14
Unknown
Now, we believe that two thirds of your income should come from guaranteed income sources that you cannot outlive. And once lifetime income sources like Social Security and pensions are considered to fill any remaining gap with equal amounts of fixed and variable annuities. Now, that leaves only one third of the income that you'll need to come from the liquid portfolio to continue to help with inflation and help with unplanned expenses that we know are going to happen over your retirement.

00:16:05:16 - 00:16:28:22
Unknown
Now, while this is a starting point, the end is going to look different, really depending on your situation, your goals, what's important to you. But the main idea here is to have diversification in your plan to ensure that you've got an income stream that will support your ideal retirement and what you sleep well at night. Despite despite the ups and downs that we all know are going to happen.

00:16:28:24 - 00:16:53:08
Unknown
So the basic steps to calculate your income is what you see on your screen. So first estimate how much income you're going to need to live retirement the way that you want to live it. Then multiply that number by two thirds. Or if you're using a calculator .67, then subtract the amount of Social Security or pension income that you have from the number that you see.

00:16:53:10 - 00:17:27:17
Unknown
And then what you have left is the amount to fill with fixed and variable annuities, assuming half for me. Now, the good news is that while this seems very simple to actually has a very robust analysis tool to help answer this question a bit more comprehensively by working with your tie consultant or advisor, they can help to provide you with a very specific recommendation on creating an efficient income plan by testing the best combination of income strategies that are available to you across 500 different retirement simulations.

00:17:27:19 - 00:17:56:03
Unknown
And this can help to provide you with assurance to make sure that you're making the right decision about how you want to create your diversified income stream. So let's look at a quick example. So let's say a retiree is 65 and they'd like to spend $60,000 a year. They saved a total of $750,000, and they will receive about $24,000 a year in Social Security.

00:17:56:05 - 00:18:31:11
Unknown
Now, applying our rule of thumb calculation, we start with two thirds of $60,000, which is 40,000. Then we back out the 24,000 and Social Security, and we're left with a gap of 16,000. We would then want to fill that gap with $8,000 a year in income from a variable annuity and $8,000 a year from a fixed annuity. To do this, we would use about 110,000 from the portfolio to create the fixed annuity stream and another 120 or so to create the variable annuity stream.

00:18:31:13 - 00:19:07:07
Unknown
That leaves about $520,000 of a liquid portfolio to create the remaining $20,000 need. Now, remember, our total spend was 60. We had 24,000 from our Social Security. 16,000 from the annuity. And so then 20,000 would be coming from the liquid portfolio. So any of our math friends out there, if we calculate the withdrawal rate percentage of $20,000, withdrawal from a $520,000 portfolio, we come up with a rate of just shy of 4%.

00:19:07:07 - 00:19:46:18
Unknown
So about 3.8, which is reasonable. So this demonstrates how a diversified income plan really works together to create an efficient income stream in retirement. But let's see what this looks like in action, right? So this slide shows a hypothetical return between 1980 and 2010 30 year retirement. Now, remember, the market did pretty well during this time. The left hand chart shows the income need in a blue line, which you actually can't see because it's overlaid with a green systematic withdrawal line, meaning that the systematic withdrawal provided the income that they needed.

00:19:46:20 - 00:20:17:15
Unknown
But you can see that the red diversified plan line actually ended up paying more income. Now, specifically, this was because from the variable annuity, because it was able to capture the market movement over time. So more income means that they were able to spend more gift more, saved more whatever they wanted to do, just more. But let's look to see what this meant for the balance of the assets that they had over that same time frame.

00:20:17:17 - 00:20:39:09
Unknown
On the right hand side, you can see the Green Line tracks the balance of the assets over time with the systematic withdrawal strategy. And you can see that we ended up with more than we started with. And we had the income we needed. So seems like a good scenario, right? But take a look at the red, diversified, diversified plan there.

00:20:39:11 - 00:21:00:20
Unknown
It actually ended up providing even more at the end of the plan and provided more income over the life of the plan. So this is true if the retiree lives more than 18 years and as we discussed at the beginning of the call, the likelihood of one person from a couple living to age 95 is 48%. That's right.

00:21:00:22 - 00:21:29:05
Unknown
So the likelihood of living more than 18 years is pretty high. And so we can see how the diversified plan actually did add quite a lot of benefit to the scenario. But to be fair, let's look at a different market environment, one where the market wasn't so kind. Again, the left side shows the income made in blue as compared to the income provided by the systematic withdrawal plan in green and then the diversified uncomplaining red.

00:21:29:07 - 00:21:59:03
Unknown
Both plans provide the same income, but because of the poor returns in the market, the systematic withdrawal plan account balance is depleted by 1980, meaning there's no more income to be paid. Now, while the diversified plan continues providing income from the lifetime income sources that were included in the plan, remember that two thirds, the liquid portion of the portfolio is depleted as well, again, because of the poor returns over time.

00:21:59:05 - 00:22:27:17
Unknown
But at least in this case, the retiree would still have the two thirds income being paid to them for as long as they live. So as we have seen, each income type has its strengths. But by putting together a diversified income plan that really leverages the strengths from each of those assets, you can create an efficient retirement income stream that will last as long as you do.

00:22:27:19 - 00:22:58:19
Unknown
That will keep pace with inflation. Over time. It will make sure there's a plan in place. If you are able to make those decisions and make sure that as the market moves, you're still able to live the kind of retirement that you want to live. Now, one final point about fixed and variable annuities. We know that they can be a very important part of a diversified income plan in retirement, but they're also an important part of saving towards retirement.

00:22:58:21 - 00:23:29:15
Unknown
Fixed annuities provide guaranteed growth every day. That means that it will be bigger tomorrow than it is today. Guaranteed variable annuities provide the potential for even greater growth over time. Again, based on the funds that they are investing in. Now, before we pull up and answer a few questions today, I want to remind you that you do have access to both types fixed and variable annuities in your retirement plan.

00:23:29:17 - 00:23:49:06
Unknown
So take advantage of your free access to a financial consultant advisor to review your specific situation in your portfolio and create your Individualized Income Plan for your ideal retirement based on what makes most sense for you. Thinking about your goals and how you want retirement to look.

[Transcript auto-generated.]

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:11:16
Unknown
Very happy to be here today. So we're going to get started on the presentation. As Michelle said, I'm a national account director with Rob and I'm going to tell you all about the legal insurance plan that Cornell offers to.

00:00:11:16 - 00:00:13:03
Unknown
Is one of your voluntary benefits.

00:00:13:03 - 00:00:30:06
Unknown
So today we're going to learn about legal insurance. What is it? How do you use it? How does it work? And also give you some contact information. So this slide really kind of depicts the path of life. And as you go through life, legal events are going to occur. You know, they're not super serious.

00:00:30:12 - 00:00:53:01
Unknown
Legal issues don't discriminate based on age, income, gender or marital status. They're going to happen, traffic tickets happen, getting married, having a baby, maybe through adoption, buying a house, selling a house, divorce, caring for aging parents and creating your estate plan. Just things that normal life, things that are going to come up in legal insurance with our OB.

00:00:53:01 - 00:01:27:22
Unknown
We'll be there to help you along the way. So this page kind of shows you the top ten legal issues that generally our members have throughout the year. Wills and trusts generally are number one. And two, sometimes they they go back and forth, but they're really just sort of everyday, normal common things, you know, wills, trusts, consumer protection, property protection, defense of civil damages, admin hearings, property transfers with when interest rates were so low that probably transfers were going crazy.

00:01:27:24 - 00:01:54:14
Unknown
Family law decrees, so many issues that happen after a divorce. Divorce itself and traffic issues. So these tend to be, you know, pretty much in the top ten year over year with our book of business. And your plan truthfully operates pretty much the same way. Now, on this page, we're looking at savings and cost of a legal insurance plan versus not having a legal insurance plan.

00:01:54:16 - 00:02:19:05
Unknown
So we know that one hour of attorney fees nationally is about $368 an hour. Obviously, different areas of the country are either higher or lower, but on average, about 368. So the cost of the legal plan for the entire year is less than that cost less than that one hour on average, our annual cost of legal legal plans are on 279.

00:02:19:05 - 00:02:40:17
Unknown
So it's definitely a lot less than what the 368 is. The premium is 2325 per month. It is a payroll deduction, it is a post tax deduction, and then it's deducted based on your payroll schedules. But when you look at this, if you did not have legal insurance and you just wanted to get a living will created, it takes about 1.2 hours.

00:02:40:17 - 00:03:01:15
Unknown
So it's about $442 refinancing your home juvenile court all of this year. You can see the cost that that would be if you did not have legal insurance. By having legal insurance, you don't pay that. You were looking at things that are planned. It's things you know, you're going to buy a house, you're going to sell a house, adoption, you know, changing a name.

00:03:01:15 - 00:03:22:18
Unknown
Those are things that you definitely plan on doing, creating your will, something you would plan on doing unexpected things would be like bankruptcy. Or if your kids get in trouble at school, residential disputes, or if you have a contract or you have a dispute with with them getting a divorce, I mean, that's generally not expected. So those are the types of things that the plan covers there.

00:03:22:24 - 00:03:50:04
Unknown
It's protecting you against the plan and the unplanned because you're protecting against this as an insurance product. You're protected against the event of a legal matter happening. You can see that just by looking at this one page, you can see there really is great value that the legal the legal plan provides you. Now, this page is the coverage that is part of your plan.

00:03:50:06 - 00:04:23:23
Unknown
As I mentioned, our is a legal insurance plan. So you can kind of consider these to be your endorsements of the policy. So again, headings we've got civil damage claims, consumer protection, criminal matters, debt related matters, family law. You can see you have up to 10 hours of contested divorce coverage. General matters, government benefits, services for tenants. So if you lease if you have a rental property that you're leasing yourself, you're a renter, then you have trouble with your landlord, then the plan would be able to assist you.

00:04:24:00 - 00:04:50:17
Unknown
And then, of course, real estate matters, small claims, tax matters, traffic related issues, of course, the wills and estate planning, which includes all of the documents that you need to create your estate plan. So all of your powers of attorney can also create a trust. All of these services are covered up to most of them, 100% paid in full, except those that few that have some our caps on it.

00:04:50:19 - 00:05:09:22
Unknown
But anything that's listed here, as long as there's not an hour capitation, are 100% paid in full when using a network attorney. So you're not going to pay the attorney to do the work for you for any of these issues. So if you get a traffic ticket and you have to go to court for the attorney to represent you in court, that is completely covered by the plan.

00:05:09:24 - 00:05:38:01
Unknown
You get a fine and a court costs. That's something that you need to pay. But for the attorney to represent you all the way through trial on any legal issue is covered by the plan. And then of course, we have some additional services that are included in there as well. Now, open enrollment window is October 30th through December 31st, and you enroll through your Cornell Voluntary benefits site or you can call the 800 number there once you become a member.

00:05:38:07 - 00:06:00:12
Unknown
So say you enroll, you're not you're not a member today and you decide that you're going to take the coverage for 2024. You'll receive an onboarding membership from us generally in December or January time period. Depends on the posted trends on the mail during the holidays. But look for big yellow on the envelope from us. There'll be a flier in there that tells you how to get things started with creating your member log in.

00:06:00:14 - 00:06:22:16
Unknown
There's welcome letter and then a couple of ID cards as well to So what's covered by the plan? Most services again 100% paid in full network attorney fees so long as it's not something that's excluded at hard costs. So like I mentioned, you get that traffic ticket, you got to go to court fines and court costs or consider hard costs.

00:06:22:16 - 00:06:41:12
Unknown
So that would be something that you would pay filing fees, copy fees, things like that. Anything that's not directly related to attorney fees are not covered by the plan. So what happens if an issue isn't covered? You still can use the plan as long as the matter is not excluded. We want to be able to make sure that you have assistance.

00:06:41:14 - 00:06:58:11
Unknown
You can get a consultation with one of our network attorneys and if you decide to retain that attorney, then they'll give you a discount of at least 25% off their hourly rate. We want to make sure that you contact customer care, confirm coverage. You want to know to what extent you have coverage for for that particular legal matter.

00:06:58:16 - 00:07:23:02
Unknown
And they'll explain your options to you. So how many attorneys are available nationwide? We have over 15,000 network attorneys. You can work with any attorney that you need. We also have a telephone network that that can assist you as well, too. There's a firm in each state that takes calls, but you're not restricted just to your geographic location.

00:07:23:02 - 00:07:48:10
Unknown
So it's where the legal event occurs. So if you're traveling and you're in Florida but you live in New York, you would work with an attorney in Florida. You know, personally, I recently had an issue where my husband, I had gone to Las Vegas in in the summertime for a conference. We rented a car. We turned the car, and then about a month later got a letter stating that they had to replace the windshield.

00:07:48:12 - 00:08:07:20
Unknown
And we knew that we had not done anything. So I spoke with a network attorney, a telephone attorney, first in Ohio and then a network attorney in Ohio who recommended that I speak with an attorney in Nevada. And I had a consultation with an attorney over the phone in Nevada. She took care of the issue for me. And we got a letter about a month later saying that we didn't know anything.

00:08:07:20 - 00:08:30:23
Unknown
So it's and I live in Ohio, so I'm using attorneys in Ohio. And then I ultimately used an attorney in Nevada because that's where the legal issue was was occurring. And so you can you're able to use anything or any of our attorneys. We also have a mobile app and that you can download either through Apple or Google Play.

00:08:31:00 - 00:08:51:06
Unknown
So what happens if you want to use an attorney outside of our network? Can you use somebody that's not part of our network? And you certainly can. You just want to make sure that you're anytime you have a legal issue, contact customer care. If in this instance, if you have an attorney that you want to use and they aren't participating in our our network, then let the customer care rep.

00:08:51:06 - 00:09:16:06
Unknown
No, I will tell you, this will be the only time you have to fill out a claim form. So when you use a network attorney, you're not paying the attorney anything. The billing happens between Iraq and the attorney. So that's aside from you. But when you use something that's outside of the plan, then it would be as if you didn't have legal insurance, You have a relationship with them, you'd have to give them a retainer, you'd pay their bill.

00:09:16:08 - 00:09:34:15
Unknown
But then, because you do have the insurance, you can submit a claim form to us. And as long as the matter is covered, it's not excluded, will reimburse you based on an indemnity schedule. So, again, you want I assure you, talking to customer care, they'll explain to you what form you need to fill out, where you can find it, what information will need.

00:09:34:17 - 00:09:56:11
Unknown
They'll also confirm for you what the level of reimbursement is for that particular matter. So it's relatively easy, but it is again, the only time you have to fill out a claim for. So do we have preexisting matters? Absolutely. If an issue were to occur, the illegal and that were to occur prior to the effective date of coverage.

00:09:56:13 - 00:10:24:05
Unknown
So your plan is effective on January 1st. So you get that traffic ticket in December because the date of the citation is prior to the effective date of coverage. That matter is then considered to be preexisting. Now, with preexisting matters, as long as they're not excluded, we will still offer you a consultation on the matter and then you can work with a network attorney on a direct basis and receive a discount off the hourly rate.

00:10:24:07 - 00:10:45:05
Unknown
So we want to make sure that you still have the ability to gain, to have assistance on the legal issue. It's just not going to be paid in full as if it occurred during the time it were covered. So said excluded a couple times. Excluded really just means it's not going to be covered by the plan for consultation or for a reduced fee.

00:10:45:05 - 00:11:07:09
Unknown
There's no coverage whatsoever. And those are matters against our ag matters against Cornell or an employer in general, and insureds interest against the named insured underneath the same certificate. That's an awful lot to say. But what it means is you as the employee, is considered to be the named insured and your spouse and dependents are considered to be the insureds.

00:11:07:15 - 00:11:38:20
Unknown
So they can't use you use the plan against you if they're underneath the same certificate. If you and your spouse both work for Cornell and you both take the coverage, then you are under different certificates. So that's a different situation than legal services arising out of business interest or investment interests. So if you have a personal business, an LLC or something like that, or if you own rental property and you're a landlord, those types of things are not going to be covered by the plan.

00:11:38:20 - 00:12:06:17
Unknown
These are for personal legal issues and then anything arising out of employment matters that employee benefits your role as an officer or director of an organization. Copyrights Patents LLC is not covered. Also, legal services arising out of class action, personal injury, punitive damage, malpractice court appeals or post judgments, and then legal services deemed to be frivolous or lacking merit.

00:12:06:19 - 00:12:27:14
Unknown
So what happens if you leave Cornell? If you leave Cornell and you're enrolled in the legal plan, then we will automatically send out a notification to you, either through the email address that we have on file or to your home address and notify you of your conversion options. So we'll give you the ability or will offer you the choice of two different plans.

00:12:27:14 - 00:12:53:11
Unknown
The price point is different than what you'll be paying with the policy that is available to to to you through your employer. But you can enroll in that on a direct basis with us, and you just pay us directly. And you have 90 days from date of separation to make that election. And then we also do have a couple of situations where we offer what you call waiver of premium, the first one being should the named insured pass away.

00:12:53:12 - 00:13:12:24
Unknown
And we will extend the coverage to your spouse and dependents for a year to allow them time to get take care of the legal issues that are going to be arising because of that situation. And then should you go out of military deployment, we will also waive premium for the period of your deployment. Now, to use the plan, simple.

00:13:12:24 - 00:13:31:16
Unknown
One, two, three. First, you are going to log on to your member account. Are you going to call customer care, discuss the legal issue that you have, Understand the coverage that's available to you. You can go online, you can review the profiles and reviews of the attorneys or talk with customer care or pick the attorney that you want to use.

00:13:31:18 - 00:13:53:19
Unknown
You call in and you make an appointment with them and then you're done. They'll take care. That's simple as one, two, three, So you can always reach us at our Google.com backslash account or calling our 800 number. So and then just, you know, some additional information. Again, your open enrollment is October 30th through December 31st. You can call our customer care team.

00:13:53:19 - 00:14:15:15
Unknown
They are located in Des Moines, Iowa. They're open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern time. You can always email us at service at our legal dot com if you want to look for where they're at on the plan, you can look through your internet at the at our Google.com backslash. My info the access code for your plan is 17968.

00:14:15:15 - 00:14:39:03
Unknown
See you. And then to enroll you go to Cornell voluntary benefits dot com and then effective January 1st the cost to the plan is 2325 monthly 1073 bi weekly or 1163 seven monthly and then for purposes of the policy spouse, domestic partner and children until the end of the year in which they reach 26, are eligible for the plan

[Transcript auto-generated.]

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:23:10
Unknown
A lot has changed over the past two years in the wake of the pandemic, and 50% of individuals say that they're thinking more about financial, physical and mental health. Cornell University is partnering with New York Life to educate faculty and staff on the importance of getting financial protection in place.

00:00:23:12 - 00:01:04:06
Unknown
During this presentation today, we'll review kind of what's changing the benefits available to you, how those actually work, and how to determine what's right for you as you prepare for your future. Obviously, today just as a reminder, we want to remind you that Cornell Open enrollment is actually from October 30th to November 17th. During this time, you'll get information and during this presentation, you'll get information as it relates to your basic and voluntary life, as well as personal accident insurance and how you can go about making changes to those plans.

00:01:04:06 - 00:01:42:20
Unknown
That's necessary as we move and touch upon group term life insurance. We'll just want to keep in mind how this impacts us from a financial perspective, but more importantly, how it impacts our loved ones as we go through our daily lives. Life insurance is very much not something an individual may think about. You know, you have your daily life of working, spending time with family, paying for some of your living expenses, such as vacations and mortgages.

00:01:43:01 - 00:02:18:06
Unknown
And life insurance isn't top of mind of many individuals. We're here to change that. And so that you can obviously think about that a little bit more if something were to happen to any one of us. There are individuals that rely on us as a wage earner to really help support their lives and their livelihood, whether that's through supplying your children and paying for your child's education, your spouse's retirement, or maybe handling daily living expenses.

00:02:18:08 - 00:02:52:11
Unknown
And 44% of households should and a loved one, you know, loved one pass away will actually experience a financial hardship within the first six months. So really, being financially secure is the most important thing you can do for yourself. We'll cover what's changing for January 1st, 2024, and how that may impact you if you previously participated in the group Universal Life Coverage.

00:02:52:13 - 00:03:27:16
Unknown
That plan is actually being sunset as of January 1st, 2024. Obviously, we want to make sure that you still have that financial security available to you. And so we've put in place a voluntary group term life policy in place. What that means to you is if your coverage amount election beneficiary vary, all of that information and premium amount would stay the same and default into a voluntary term life product in the fall.

00:03:27:16 - 00:04:05:14
Unknown
You should have actually received communication materials as it relates to some options you had, whether to maintain your group Universal Life on a ported direct sales basis at increased premium amounts, or whether you automatically default into that voluntary term life insurance product plan. It was in December of this year, you'll have the opportunity to receive a confirmation of what that election or default in coverage was during that special enrollment period.

00:04:05:16 - 00:04:40:07
Unknown
If the confirmation statement does not indicate or the coverage that you had in mind, or maybe you changed your mind during this open enrollment, you can certainly make changes to do so. All coverage will be effective January 1st, 2024. And with your voluntary turmoils default coverage, your premiums will continue to be deducted from your Cornell's paycheck. And that's specifically based on your age and your salary.

00:04:40:07 - 00:05:18:24
Unknown
As of January 1st, 2024. As you go about receiving salary increases, your voluntary term coverage will change automatically, which is different from what we had in place under the group Universal Life. With this change, we want to paint a picture of what you do have available to you. So for basically you have a amount that's paid for by Cornell on your behalf and offers life insurance for correction so long as you're employed by Cornell.

00:05:19:01 - 00:05:44:05
Unknown
You're also have new this year the voluntary term life, which is paid for by you through payroll deductions and offers life protection for long as you remain employed by Cornell. If you choose to leave Cornell or retire, both plans are convertible to you, meaning that you can take them with you, which is important when making those decisions.

00:05:44:18 - 00:06:12:12
Unknown
Now, how much do I need? Right, with the change in this coverage? And in most people and most lives, actually, the amount of life insurance you need will fluctuate from time to time. What I need in life insurance is not the same as what you need in life insurance. And so what we've done is we've actually built a simple online calculator to help you determine what would be best for your scenario.

00:06:12:14 - 00:06:30:21
Unknown
It takes into consideration how old you are, whether you're married, whether you have dependent children. Maybe you're paying for a house or an education and it will actually give you goal amount of life insurance that may be beneficial for you.

00:06:31:21 - 00:07:10:09
Unknown
Now, what does Cornell offer under the plan? So for life insurance is provided to all benefits endowed employees and contract college employees enrolled in the SUNY Optional Retirement Plan. For employee, you receive half of your budgeted salary to a maximum of $50,000 and this amount, again is paid for by Cornell on your behalf. You also have the option to elect a voluntary term life benefit from employees.

00:07:10:09 - 00:07:47:23
Unknown
You can elect to 1 to 10 times your budgeted salary to $2 million. The guarantee issue for that coverage is the lesser of five times your annual compensation or $1 million per spouse. You can elect units of $10,000 up to $300,000, and the guarantee amount of that coverage is $50,000. And then for children up to age 26, you can elect $2,000 increments up to a maximum of $20,000.

00:07:48:00 - 00:08:23:19
Unknown
All amounts for children are considered guaranteed issue. Could you elect to increase the amount over the guarantee issue? Amount indicated here you would just need to complete some medical questions and walk through kind of that medical underwriting process to review and determine if you would be a good candidate for the additional coverage amount. Just a reminder here, as you're going about, you'll want to make sure your child age fits within that age 20 below age 26.

00:08:23:19 - 00:08:36:24
Unknown
Category. This is important because we don't want to keep paying for individuals and dependent children that are not necessarily covered, maybe because they're over that threshold

00:08:36:24 - 00:09:09:13
Unknown
as we move into personal acid insurance. We'll explain kind of what that entails. So personal accident insurance is a voluntary product that's paid for by you through payroll deductions and takes into account and pays for the pays a benefit to you or your beneficiary to the serious accident occur that would prohibit you from kind of moving on with normal daily life.

00:09:09:15 - 00:09:37:16
Unknown
An example of that could be I am in a car accident. I survived the car accident, but I do not have use of myself in that scenario. Personal accident insurance would actually help pay a portion of that to and pay out a portion to you in the instance where you are in that a car accident and you should pass away.

00:09:37:18 - 00:09:52:05
Unknown
Your beneficiary would actually receive the total amount payable under the life insurance plan as well as any personal accident insurance you had elected for yourself.

00:09:52:18 - 00:10:25:17
Unknown
And essentially what you do is through the claims process, if you unfortunately did not survive, essentially we would evaluate kind of the loss, the accident, as well as any accident reports that get reviewed as well, and actually pay funds to either yourself if you're still living and only have lost eyesight or hearing or to your beneficiary at the same time as your life insurance.

00:10:25:19 - 00:11:15:15
Unknown
So what's available for personal accident insurance? Personal accident insurance is provided to the same eligibility for employees and contract college employees. For an employee, you can elect units of $10,000, up to $500,000. The only caveat there is the amounts in excess of $250,000 cannot exceed ten times your base annual earnings for a spouse. You have an option of 100% of the employee amount or 50% of the employee amount, up to a maximum of $250,000 and save for child units of $2,000, up to $20,000.

00:11:16:02 - 00:11:42:20
Unknown
In addition to the benefits available, you also have access to a survivor support specialist that's with you along any type of bereavement journey that to begin, whether it's coordinating with funeral homes, if you have a funeral home assignment that you need to complete and you don't know how to go about doing that, they can certainly help with those services.

00:11:42:22 - 00:12:16:11
Unknown
They also and more importantly, provide ongoing care and grief to help provide you with resources available to you as you navigate that new journey. So providing grief and bereavement resources to the surviving members of your family, maybe it's additional resources that are in the local community that can assist. But then continuously reaching out after the claim has actually been paid to check in with, see how you're doing as you navigate that loss.

00:12:16:19 - 00:12:44:14
Unknown
There's also support specifically for children and kids. Journey. Journey is actually a film and book series that your foundation had actually put together because we know grief impacts individuals differently, especially children. So we've created a three part book series that's available online that helps high that goes through Chi's life and journey as he navigates the loss of a loved one.

00:12:44:16 - 00:13:28:13
Unknown
It also provides kind of pointed questions along the way and discussions. Guy that can help in that grief journey for that child. Below there is a you are and that's free for anybody to use and you can certainly pass along that. I've used it in the past as well. So how to enroll. There is a got you can access that information via what say I did put the you are a link up at the top here to basically access our benefits guide portal which will provide you with applications to update your beneficiaries if needed.

00:13:28:15 - 00:14:01:22
Unknown
Enroll for coverage change coverage selection. Those forms are available online for you to access and make those changes if necessary. We also have a customer service center that's available between Monday and Friday, 9 to 6 p.m. Eastern Time that will be able to answer any general questions that you may have as it relates to coverage. And with that, we're at the end of the presentation.

00:14:01:22 - 00:14:02:14
Unknown
If we want,

[Transcript auto-generated.]

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:29:12
Unknown
Well, hello, everyone. Welcome. My name's Craig Davis, and my organization is called Retirement Guard. And we're the vendors for Cornell's long term care insurance program. Have been for maybe the past seven years. And the presentation today is intended to not only discuss insurance, but it's more important that we understand initially what long term care is and what some statistics in terms of odds of needing it.

00:00:29:14 - 00:00:50:22
Unknown
There's going to be a question section, but if you have questions that arise that are more personal in nature and you'd like to communicate with me in the lower left hand in the brand, you see that help me at retirement. Garcon That's how I can be reached. And again, please get back to me if questions arise or if you'd like to see how much this would cost for you.

00:00:50:24 - 00:01:14:17
Unknown
And we'll just venture together now and click this on an ad for our current webinar series. If you do have questions during a presentation, you can enter that in the Q&A feature of resume settings, and we'll have the session at the end of the presentation as well for that. Okay, great, Great. All right. So I'm a little adverse to monologues, but we'll do the best we can.

00:01:14:17 - 00:01:44:10
Unknown
Let's turn the page. All right. So I think it's important that we understand what long term care is. And there from there are all these fancy definitions. But most simplistically and accurately, from my perspective, long term care is about people helping other people stay independent for as long as possible. I didn't mention doctors, I didn't mention nurses, I didn't mention CAT scans.

00:01:44:12 - 00:02:28:05
Unknown
These situations that arise that in terms of needing care, tend to be chronic. Chronic meaning certainly at age 80, I'm probably not getting better, but again, this is not acute care. This is not medical in any way. And we're going to be talking later on about needing assistance with activities of daily living and cognitive impairment. Cognitive impairment is responsible for about 50% of insurance claims, but we're either going to have deficiencies on the physical end needing assistance with bathing, dressing, eating, toilet incontinence, transferring, and there may be some cognitive decline as well.

00:02:28:07 - 00:03:02:22
Unknown
I've been using this data for a while, but it's still, if anything, conservative. So let's look at this projected need here. I think it's important. And in yellow on that second column, we see that 79% of women reaching age 65 are going to need some form of care. It may not be acute enough to require long term care insurance, but 79% of women are going to need care versus 58% for men.

00:03:02:24 - 00:03:33:18
Unknown
So how can that be? And if we look at the first column, we still see that there's a four year mortality advantage for females over males. So what we're finding is that healthy women at age 65 are often on claim at age 92, and their spouses have passed. Average length of care for women is 3.7 years. And we over on the right, the statistics are very important.

00:03:33:20 - 00:04:04:04
Unknown
35% of these women who are needing care are going to need care for longer than five years. So it's a very as opposed to 24% for men. But again, we're going back to that mortality table and the and the life expectancy expectancy advantages that women have over men. So it's not really if we can turn the page, it's really not a question of, well, maybe I might not need maybe I might need this up top.

00:04:04:09 - 00:04:34:13
Unknown
We see 70% of people reaching over age 65 are going to need some form of long term care and 40% of people are going to spend some time in a nursing facility. So it's not like these odds are, I'm probably not going to need care. These odds are I probably I'm going to need care. So in terms of managing risk, because long term care risk is a significant risk to your financial well-being.

00:04:34:15 - 00:04:55:05
Unknown
And I'm not a financial planner and I don't fortunately manage people's assets, but we have market risk out there. What's the market doing today? What's the outlook for the stock market doing today? Geopolitical risk. Risk abounds. Risk is everywhere. Interest rate risk, which I'll talk about in a little bit, in a little bit long and in a little while.

00:04:55:07 - 00:05:21:03
Unknown
But these two market risk, interest rate risk, they can impact my four or three, be my qualified plans. Maybe I could have a little more, may go end up with a little less. But Craig says that long term care risk is the greatest risk to most people's financial well-being because the cost of this care is will see momentarily can be significant.

00:05:21:05 - 00:05:51:11
Unknown
So who pays the bill? Who's paying for for this type of care? The annual cost for the annual cost for care in a nursing facility in central New York is $120,000. And this data. So it's really actually $120,000 for a semi-private room. Private rooms are going to cost more. These these costs have been for a while. Maybe a decade ago, nursing home costs were going up seven, 8% a year.

00:05:51:13 - 00:06:26:03
Unknown
We're tracking them. Recently, there have been going up three or 4% a year. So $120,000 for nursing home care, health insurance. Your health insurance is not designed to to to pay for a chronic care that's custodial in nature. It's designed to pay for skilled care. So your health insurance really isn't going to help you as it relates to long term care insurance, and neither will Medicare when you're retiring.

00:06:26:03 - 00:07:03:02
Unknown
Medicare will be an important component of your health health insurance. Medicare was designed in the 60 SE to pay for really acute medical care, and back in the 1960s, this long term care wasn't the issue that it is today. And Medicaid. Medicaid actually pays for perhaps 60% of New York's nursing home bill because very few people can afford $120,000 a year in Medicaid rules when we financially become when we become legally indigent, Medicaid will pay.

00:07:03:04 - 00:07:23:10
Unknown
But in order to become legally indigent, many people have to what you've heard this before, they have to spend down their assets as a single person in New York, I have their set, then my assets down to $15,000 in order to have Medicaid pay for my nursing home care. So there are new rules as it relates to look back periods.

00:07:23:12 - 00:07:59:20
Unknown
And I think moving forward, these rules are going to get stricter, not looser, as Medicaid is a major financial drag on on our on our state finances. And of course, individuals pay for long term care through their assets and income and reverse mortgages and more so recently through long term care insurance. But the message here is this is expensive and there is no federal insurance program other than becoming legally indigent to pay for this.

00:08:00:05 - 00:08:19:23
Unknown
but that's okay. My family's going to take care of me. But conversely, I also hear so often from people who have taken care of their parents and they don't want to become a burden on their own children. But again, I go back to The Waltons, my favorite TV show in the 1960s. We had four generations living on the farm.

00:08:20:00 - 00:08:54:05
Unknown
This was really not an issue. Sons and daughters were not living in Sacramento. We really didn't have the sandwich generation to worry about either. Sandwich generation, meaning being sandwiched between still needing to take care of children and still needing to take care of ailing parents. This is increasingly a paradigm we're seeing more and more and more of. So before we start talking about insurance, I'm going to take a deep breath and review it.

00:08:54:08 - 00:09:20:19
Unknown
Chances are that you are going to need care as opposed to you're not going to need care. And in order to finance this, it becomes truly, truly expensive. I neglected to mention earlier that the infrastructure I call it in a long term care infrastructure, 70% of claims or most claims actually start at home. 65 to 70% of insurance money is paid to people who need care at home.

00:09:20:21 - 00:09:52:11
Unknown
But we have assisted living facilities, adult day care, nursing facilities, memory centers, robotics are going to be coming on the scene to bring us tea at home. So the infrastructure is going to change, but the expense is not will not necessarily change. So traditional long term care insurance, we're going to be talking about two forms of insurance, traditional long term care insurance and something that's new, that's called hybrid long term care insurance.

00:09:52:13 - 00:10:20:24
Unknown
And the traditional insurance has been with us since the early 1980s and the premium depends upon a number of variables. How old am I? What's my health like? If my health if the insurance company themes, my health is unacceptable, they don't even have to provide coverage for me. Am I married or am I living with a partner? Not that they're a it's it's not a it's not a social issue.

00:10:20:24 - 00:10:43:23
Unknown
They just know from experience. It's very difficult to stay at home alone. So the fact that I have a partner, my my premium will actually be reduced as opposed to a fund currently living if I'm currently single. So these rates are not absolutely guaranteed. They're designed to stay level, but they can be increased with permission from the New York State Department of Finance.

00:10:44:00 - 00:11:08:16
Unknown
And the way this works, the premiums are designed to stay level and at age 50, my premium is going to be less than it would be at age 60 and at age 60. My going into this, my premium will be less than if I went into it at age 70. So to an extent it behooves people to start participating as soon as as soon as as soon as it's viable.

00:11:08:18 - 00:11:28:10
Unknown
And I realize at the end of the month, there are a hundred hands looking coming up, looking for money. So the causes and conditions have to align here. We need to be thinking about it. We need to be in a planning mode. We need to have the resources to pay for our average participant. Last year in our programs, we work with several universities.

00:11:28:10 - 00:11:53:17
Unknown
It's age 58, which doesn't mean we don't insure 40 year olds and which doesn't mean we don't do not insure 77 year olds. But if we think about it at age 58, perhaps I'm starting to see issues with my parents or other loved ones and easily over 50% of the people whom I speak with have had some experience with long term care vis a vis parents.

00:11:53:17 - 00:12:16:21
Unknown
It's not open. It's not an academic exercise. They've been in the trenches. They've seen how this works for real. So again, with traditional insurance, I have a number of options to choose, and these are going to determine my premium if my if my benefits are richer, my premium is going to be higher. If my benefits are lean, they're going to be lower.

00:12:16:23 - 00:12:44:01
Unknown
But these are the decisions that have to be made. How much should the insured, how much will the insurance company pay me if I need long term care? Actually, how much will they reimburse me with traditional insurance, you're not being sent a check. They're reimburse ineligible expenses. So if I choose $6,000 a month, they're going to reimburse up to $6,000 of eligible long term care expenses every month.

00:12:44:03 - 00:13:16:22
Unknown
Decision number two, how long will this benefit last? They're not infinite. They're finite. So let's say I choose a benefit duration of five years, and I chose that $6,000 monthly benefit. If we do the math, five years, six months times $6,000, in essence, we're creating a $360,000 benefit pool instantly in exchange for a premium $360,000 that can be utilized to pay for my long term care.

00:13:16:24 - 00:13:49:13
Unknown
The insurance company is not going to pay that all at once. We have the $6,000 monthly allowance and at $6,000 a month every month, This benefit would be depleted in five years. Virtually all of the programs that we designed have an inflation feature again, with the inflation future premiums designed to stay level though the benefits increasing 3% compound every year, slowly but 3% compound will double benefits every 24 years.

00:13:49:15 - 00:14:21:19
Unknown
So if I come in at age 58 with a $360,000 benefit pool because of this compound in at 24 years at age 82, my benefit pool will now be $720,000. And likewise that $6,000 monthly benefit has been increasing and at age 82 that will be $12,000 a month. Something that's relatively new with traditional insurance is the shared care future for couples, which provides tremendous flexibility.

00:14:21:21 - 00:14:42:05
Unknown
Perhaps perhaps if as a couple, I'm going to choose a three year benefit duration, my spouse will choose a three year benefit duration, but we can share that. So if my if I end up needing care and I go through my three years with permission from my spouse, I can tap into his or hers. So it allows for a tremendous amount of flexibility.

00:14:42:05 - 00:15:16:23
Unknown
Here. The policies are 100% portable, meaning that when you leave Cornell, your policy goes with you. And most people who are looking at this are thinking, how can I stay at home for as long as possible? So we want to make certain that our home health care benefits are as rich as possible. So sorry for taking up so much time, but those are the factors involved in terms of tribute, in terms of choosing, in terms of how I'm going to put together a design, my traditional insurance program.

00:15:17:00 - 00:15:46:22
Unknown
So let's turn the page. Guaranteed renewable is insurance jargon, but it simply means as long as I pay my premium, the insurance company can never take this coverage away from me. They can never cancel the coverage, which I mentioned is is portable. And because this is not being payroll deducted, those people will be there. Checking. Your savings account is debited on a monthly basis.

00:15:46:24 - 00:16:14:12
Unknown
It makes that transition into retirement very, very easy. We're not leaving the payroll deduction system going into a direct mail system. It's it's quite, quite easy in order to receive benefits with long term care insurance. And it doesn't matter what form of insurance anywhere in the United States because there is a basically a federal law which makes certain that these definitions are uniform.

00:16:14:14 - 00:16:50:08
Unknown
My doctor has to certify that I'm that I'm dealing with one of two unfortunate events. One, the first unfortunate event is because of the frailty of old age and this Parkinson's of a whole host of things which can come down upon us. I need assistance with activities of daily living, my bathing, dressing, eating, toileting, incontinence, transferring. And the insurance contract says when I need help with two of those, that triggers benefit and bathing and dressing 90% of the time are the first to go.

00:16:50:08 - 00:17:13:05
Unknown
And they almost always go together. If I break a hip, I need help putting my socks on. I need help getting into the tub or shower. So needing help with ADLs buzzword activities of daily living is one benefit qualifier, and on the other end of the spectrum, as I mentioned before, 50% of claims are paid to people with cognitive deficiencies.

00:17:13:06 - 00:17:41:18
Unknown
Cognitive impairment is that is is the other separate way to unfortunate event to qualify for a benefit. So there are many, many forms of dementia. Alzheimer's is one of them. We mention Alzheimer's because people understand Alzheimer's. And in terms of cognitive impairment, it's not necessarily an issue of, I can't remember your name. It's an issue of I'm now at the point where I'm dangerous to myself or others.

00:17:41:24 - 00:18:08:15
Unknown
Perhaps I'm going to get lost going for that walk or my behavior is abusive or a whole host of things. So either needing help with activities of daily living or cognitive and a cognitive decline. When my first session says that I meet one or two of those, that that's the that's the benefit criteria here. So I call them unfortunate events.

00:18:08:21 - 00:18:44:00
Unknown
Unfortunate indeed. A lot of discussion about long term care insurance and where it's been the marketplace works. I think next year I won't say flux because things are stabilizing again. What happened with long term care insurance back in, almost 20 years ago, the year 2000, the actuaries who were designing these plans underpriced them. Not intentionally. No one foresaw back then this prolonged interest rate slump where, remember, we all we had to pay the bank to take care of our money.

00:18:44:02 - 00:19:14:16
Unknown
That obviously has changed significantly over the past six months, and I think we're out of that right now. Inflation is is another potential issue, but rising interest rates will lift all boats here as it relates to safety of premium. But for a while there, these long term care insurance policies, premiums were being increased. New York State Department of Finance was approving them because they've been in between a rock and a hard place.

00:19:14:18 - 00:19:48:04
Unknown
They don't want to gouge their taxpayer residents, but they want insurance companies to say solvent. It's less of an issue today because those old products that were designed in 2000, 2010 have literally been taken off the shelf. I can't buy them anymore. They've been replaced with new product with significantly higher premium. I think it's probably safe to say that age 58, my premium today would be twice as high as it would have been 20 years ago.

00:19:48:06 - 00:20:37:18
Unknown
But conversely, the premiums are now quite, quite safe from an actuarial perspective, and there's significant less possibility for these rate increases. So that's kind of the journey that we've been on. This this rising interest rate environment is going to be very, very good for the insurance companies and in turn for for the insurers. So new hybrid plans. I have an eight minute video at I think it's on the Cornell website, but where I in terms of comparing traditional products with these new high hybrid products, I can't say that one is better than the other because they're significantly different and they appeal to different types of people.

00:20:37:20 - 00:21:04:04
Unknown
Everything has pluses and minuses with a traditional long term care insurance. You might recall that I'm not receiving a check. They're reimbursing eligible expenses. What I neglected to mention was premiums are paid forever as long as I'm alive, or until the insurance company's paying me. And if I never need long term care with a traditional product, no asset, nothing is coming back to my beneficiaries.

00:21:04:04 - 00:21:30:03
Unknown
It's kind of akin to term life insurance. The hybrids work very, very differently. I'll give you the good news first. The good news is that the premiums are guaranteed, benefits are paid in cash. If I never need long term care, the premiums that I pay to return to my estate, return to my beneficiaries sounds great and it is great.

00:21:30:05 - 00:21:57:14
Unknown
The downside is these premiums are not paid for life in New York State. The maximum payment for them and so far over a five year period. So I'm paying premiums for five years and then my policy is paid up and it's providing all these advantages. What I'm trying to get at is that the cash flow requirements with these hybrid plans are high, but they're only going to be for five years, but they're significantly high.

00:21:57:14 - 00:22:20:03
Unknown
And that can be a detriment to many people who are thinking about wanting to obtain some form of protection, protecting their assets against long term care risk. But I think moving forward, as the New York State Department of Finance gets with it, I say that they're behind 49 other states, but that's another story in terms of approving new product.

00:22:20:05 - 00:22:43:10
Unknown
These limited pay premiums will be extended from five years to ten years to 20 years. That's what I'm working with in other states. But more often than not, people want to see what the duration looks like for them, what the hybrid looks like for them, and it's my job to illustrate them and to help you make informed decisions.

00:22:43:12 - 00:23:11:10
Unknown
That's really all that I care about, helping you make informed decisions. So those are our new hybrid plans. We've called this an exchange because we don't work for an insurance company. There's no single insurance company that's best for everyone. So we have at our disposal a number of insurance companies on the hybrid side nationwide and Brighthouse Financial, which is used to be a division of metropolitan life.

00:23:11:12 - 00:23:45:03
Unknown
And I won't bore you with the details, but one is going to be more attractive than the other, depending upon age and Mutual of Omaha remains our favorite traditional long term care insurance program in New York State. So we have at our disposal various products to meet individual needs and financial goals. All of these require underwriting requirements. I know we're moving into open enrollment and there's a lot of guarantee issue, which means regardless of my health, I can obtain this benefit that's not the case here.

00:23:45:05 - 00:24:11:09
Unknown
No physical examinations are required, but the insurance company is going to want to look at your health visa via a detailed questionnaire, and sometimes they'll go to your physician to obtain your medical records, which which would require a hip release. You would have to give them permission to do so. So we have to be in relatively good health, too, to be able to obtain insurance.

00:24:11:09 - 00:24:33:11
Unknown
And if you again, if you have questions about your health, please email me at help me at retirement cars.com. And we can we can talk about it. So moving forward, my options today is I can self-insure, which is a nice word for I can do nothing. I can dependent upon my family. The government has two programs Medicare and Medicaid.

00:24:33:11 - 00:24:56:12
Unknown
I neglected to mention that Medicare. Remember, the program was designed back in the sixties when the Waltons was paying. Medicare does pay for a limited amount of long term care. If I'm hospitalized for a minimum of three nights and I go directly to the nursing home, Medicare will pay for 100. It will contribute to up to 100 days of coverage.

00:24:56:14 - 00:25:19:23
Unknown
But that's the extent of what they'll do for long term care. And again, because of these situations that are chronic, requiring lower, lower levels of custodial care, what we find is that the need for care can go on for weeks or months or years. So the fact that Medicare will contribute up to 100 days is nice, but it's not it's not a savior here.

00:25:20:00 - 00:25:45:17
Unknown
And of course, long term care insurance is an option. So these are things that you and your planners can and or should be thinking about. So I think not certain is there. I wasn't certain if there was another page, there is another page. Why should you apply sooner than later? Well, health can change at any time, can't it?

00:25:45:19 - 00:26:10:04
Unknown
I can be very I could be very, very healthy today and find out some wonderful news next month. So health can change any time and it tends to change more rapidly as we age by obtaining insurance today. Remember, the 50 year old premium is lower than the 60 year old premium. Your premium will never be lower and we start protecting our independence and assets.

00:26:10:04 - 00:26:35:02
Unknown
Today. I didn't I neglected to mention earlier that maybe 30% of long term care is being provided to people under age 65. I didn't mention it because many of those people are recovering and they're getting better. Again, at age 85. If I break my hip, chances are that I'm not going to be getting getting better. And that can signify a decline.

00:26:35:04 - 00:26:56:24
Unknown
One less thing which is out of place here, the New York tax credit, which is important for traditional long term care insurance. New York State is assertive with their tax policy. They want you to buy long term care insurance if you can afford it. And they're going to provide a tax credit to you If you do so. Let me explain briefly how that works.

00:26:57:01 - 00:27:23:14
Unknown
Let's assume my premium for traditional long term care insurance is $4,000 a year and our average premiums are 3 to $4000 a year. It's expensive. It's expensive because the industry paid out $13 billion in claims last year. And many, many people are using this. But let's assume that the premiums for annual premiums $4,000 a year, 20% of that is $800.

00:27:23:16 - 00:27:51:10
Unknown
I still have to pay the insurance company $4,000, but at tax time, Google it. I don't know how I remember this. I dash to 49. It's a New York state tax form and you'll get a 20% tax credit. So I'm paying $800 less, not a deduction a credit at the New York state income tax with 8249 because I own traditional long term care insurance.

00:27:51:12 - 00:28:16:12
Unknown
So I've been doing this for a while, many, many years, as you can probably tell. I hope that this has been helpful. I tend to talk fast during these presentations, but again, you may have questions now. We can certainly accommodate them. And if you want to store your question and make it more personal, please email me at Help Me at retirement guard.com.

00:28:16:14 - 00:28:18:10
Unknown
And I wish everyone well.