Eligibility

If you are a benefits-eligible employee, you are eligible to enroll for medical insurance. Ivy Tech's health insurance plans are offered on a region-specific basis and in most regions an HMO plan is the type of plan available. You may also enroll your eligible dependents for coverage. All eligible employees can enroll for employee, employee plus spouse, employee plus child(ren), or family coverage within 31 days of their hire date or during the annual open enrollment period. Employees also have 31 days from a qualifying event to make changes to their coverage. See your Human Resources Administrator for more information.

Expense

The College pays a majority of the premium expense for medical coverage for you and any eligible dependents you elect to enroll. You pay the remaining portion of the premium expense by payroll deduction. In addition, the Tax Saver Program lets you make these payroll deductions on a before-tax basis. For more information on Tax Saver, see the chapter entitled “Other Benefits.”

Health Maintenance Organizations

The majority of Ivy Tech benefits-eligible employees have the opportunity to enroll in a Health Maintenance Organization, or HMO, medical plan during the first thirty days of employment, or during the annual open enrollment period, to be effective for July 1. When a quality HMO option becomes available in those areas without an HMO, they will also be included.

With the HMO plan, you select a Primary Care Physician from a network of health care providers. Your Primary Care Physician will coordinate all of your health care services and may refer you to a specialist if necessary. In effect, your Primary Care Physician is your “first stop” for all your health care needs.

HMOs offer many advantages, including no annual deductibles and no claim form requirements for services. A few of the covered services are offered at no charge. Most require a low co-payment or a percentage of the usual, customary and reasonable fee. In addition, there is no pre-existing condition limitation when you enroll in the HMO. Your Human Resources Administrator can provide you with a benefit schedule and a list of Primary Care Physicians from which you can select.

PPO/Traditional Plans

The PPO and traditional indemnity plans allow you to visit the physician of your choice. In the PPO plan, if you choose a provider in the PPO preferred network, your deductible and co-payment will be less. If you receive services from a provider not in the preferred network, your deductible and co-payment will be greater. You have the flexibility to use in-network or out-of-network providers at your discretion, keeping in mind the different benefit levels. Under this plan, your in-network and out-of-network deductibles accumulate separately depending upon the provider's designation as either in- or out-of-network.

In the traditional indemnity plan there is no preferred network of providers, so no differences in deductibles or co-payments exist.

Please contact your regional Human Resources Administrator or visit the College's benefits website at www.gregoryappel.com/ivytech.edu to determine which health plan(s) is available to you and for plan details.