April Employee Benefits Spotlight

From: Human Resources

Please see the following announcements from the Benefits Team.

Hold the date for health benefits open enrollment

Open enrollment for health insurance and flexible spending accounts will be held May 1-15. More details will be forthcoming.

Spring Social Security information sessions

The Benefits team in Human Resources is hosting free workshops in April to provide employees with the opportunity to learn more about Social Security benefits. Social Security representative Jacqueline Weisgarber will deliver the information and be available to answer questions such as:

• When are you eligible to receive retirement benefits?
• How does early retirement affect your benefits? 
• Do you qualify for disability, survivors, and spouse benefits?
• How do you get the most from your benefit?
• What is the future of Social Security?
• When should you file for Medicare? 

Below is the information for the scheduled sessions along with the registration link.  

Tuesday, April 8, 2-3:30 p.m. 
Register here.

Thursday, April 10, 10-11:30 a.m. 
Register here.

Review and update beneficiaries

As part of Virginia Tech’s ongoing commitment to supporting financial well-being, Human Resources would like to remind employees of the importance of reviewing and updating beneficiaries for both life insurance and retirement plans.

Ensuring that beneficiary information is accurate and up to date is crucial. It ensures that in the event of unforeseen circumstances, loved ones receive the benefits designated for them without any complications or delays.

Please take a moment to review the following beneficiary designations. 

• Basic and Optional Life Insurance: Beneficiaries through Securian Financial/Minnesota Life, for all eligible employees, are updated with the Virginia Retirement System. Beneficiaries should be updated online through the employee’s myVRS account. All eligible employees should register for this account to set up beneficiaries, regardless of their mandatory retirement plan. 
• New York Life: Register or login to your NY Life account to name or update beneficiaries. 
• Zurich AD&D: Submit this form to the HR Service Center to update your designated beneficiary.

Retirement plan beneficiaries are separate for each vendor. Below is a list of vendors that have beneficiaries associated.  

• Virginia Retirement System (VRS): Register or log in to your myVRS account to name or update beneficiaries for your defined benefit member contributions. 
• VRS Hybrid Defined Contribution Plan (DCP): Register or login to your DCP account to name or update beneficiaries. 
• Commonwealth of Virginia (COV) 457 Defined Contribution Plan (DCP): Register or login to your DCP account to name or update beneficiaries. 
• Fidelity: Register or login to your Fidelity account to name or update beneficiaries.  
• TIAA: Register or login to your TIAA account to name or update beneficiaries.

Keeping your beneficiary information up to date is a small but significant step in ensuring peace of mind for employees and their loved ones. Act now!

Did you know?

Did you know it is easier for you to get certain condition-related, maintenance medications at no-cost? Check the PreventativeRX Plus (Cova Care, Cova HDHP, and Cova Healthaware) drug list on Anthem's website to see which medications are included in the program.