Health care changes ahead
Open enrollment, the annual period when Harvard employees can make changes to their benefit plans, begins Oct. 27. This year, faculty and staff will find a few important changes to their health care offerings, including a new vision care plan, free preventive health services, and increases in emergency room and office visit co-payments. Employees have until Nov. 9 to make and review changes to their medical and dental coverage or open a flexible spending account, in which money can be set aside on a pretax basis to cover certain health or dependent-care costs. (Visit HARVie for more information or to make changes, which will be effective Jan. 1, 2012.) But — as Harvard Human Resources (HHR) will be emphasizing over the next few weeks — it’s important that employees review their benefits even if they don’t plan on making a switch, because some changes to benefits will soon go into effect. For starters,...