The university provides health insurance coverage, which includes dental, vision and hearing benefits, to eligible employees at group rates. There are five plans available to select from:

• COVA Care, a PPO plan administered by Anthem BlueCross BlueShield, Delta Dental, BlueView Vision
• COVA HDHP, a high deductible plan administered by Anthem BlueCross BlueShield, Delta Dental
• COVA HealthAware, a PPO plan administered by Aetna, Delta Dental
• Kaiser Permanente, a Traditional HMO plan administered by Kaiser Permanente and has a service area in Northern Virginia, Washington, D.C. and parts of Maryland
• Sentara Health Plans, a referral-less HMO plan in which you can choose a Plan primary care physician to coordinate your healthcare needs and has a service area in Hampton Roads region.

Premium Reward Requirements
The Commonwealth of Virginia provides health and wellness programs for participants and family members enrolled in COVA Care, COVA HealthAware and COVA HDHP. Programs offered include: a personal health assessment, premium rewards, maternity management, diabetes management, and bariatric surgery pre-education. All programs are confidential.

Eligible faculty and staff can participate in the Premium Reward Program be completing the necessary requirements.

Enrollment and Election Changes
Initial enrollment requests are made within 30 days of beginning employment with the state (including being rehired more than 30 days after termination from the state) or becoming newly eligible for state coverage. All initial enrollment elections are effective the first of the month following the date you become eligible to enroll. When that date is the first of the month, elections are effective that day.

Open Enrollment occurs each year in the spring and is announced in the Open Enrollment newsletter, Spotlight on Your Benefits, which is mailed to your home. Notification is also sent out from the Human Resources Office informing you of the open enrollment dates and informational sessions held on campus. This is your annual opportunity to request enrollment or make election changes.

Certain qualifying mid-year events permit specific election changes with supporting documentation. Your enrollment or election change request must be submitted within 60 calendar days of the qualifying mid-year event, and must be consistent with the event.

The following is a list of life events that may enable you to change your benefit elections:

• Change in your employment status
• Change in your marital status
• Change in your number of dependents

Changes to your health insurance plan can be submitted electronically through Cardinal or by submitting the Health Insurance Enrollment form to Human Resources.

Separation of Employment and Ending Health Insurance Coverage
The federal Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) requires employers that sponsor group health plans to offer employees and their families the opportunity to temporarily extend their health coverage at group rates in certain instances where plan coverage would typically end.

The group health continuation coverage under COBRA notice includes information for you and your spouse about the rights and obligations under the COBRA provision and provides answers to several frequently asked questions.

The Department of Human Resources Mangement (DHRM) Office of Health Benefits will mail COBRA enrollment information directly to your home address upon separation of employment.

If you have questions about Health Insurance contact a Human Resources Benefits Specialist, email benefits@jmu.edu or visit the Department of Human Resource Management website.