Effective February 1, 2024, the OSSTF Employee Life and Health Trust (ELHT) will be moving from payroll deductions to direct billing using pre-authorized debits (PAD) to collect member paid benefit premiums. This means that your school board will no longer be making payroll deductions to cover the cost of your member paid benefit premiums.
This change will impact all members who are participating in OSSTF ELHT Extended Health Care, Dental Care, and/or Optional Life Benefits. Please review the information below to ensure you understand the actions required by you to complete this time sensitive request.
| What to expect
You will receive an email in early January with steps to securely provide us with your banking information through the Banking Information Required event. The instructions will be sent to your Board assigned email address, unless you have indicated a personal email address as your preferred email. You will be responsible for providing us with your banking information to facilitate the pre-authorized debit collection of your Benefits Plan premium contributions. Your banking information is requested for pre-authorized debit as soon as possible to ensure your benefits continue without interruption. If your banking information is not provided by March 1 through the Banking Information Required event, your coverage will be suspended and you will not have access to your health and/or dental, and/or optional life benefits. Important: If you have previously submitted your banking information in My Claims and/or My Benefits, you must still complete the Banking Information Required event which will be available in January under the My Benefits homepage. We will provide instructions to accurately provide this information. Suspended Coverage If your coverage is suspended due to not meeting the above deadline, you will need to apply for the reinstatement of your coverage and the payment of the retroactive owed member contributions from February 1, 2024 will still need to be paid in full. If you do not apply or are not approved for the reinstatement of coverage, you will be responsible to pay back any funds received for claims incurred on or after February 1, 2024 that were submitted and reimbursed. You may also be subject to dental late entrant provisions and/or required to re-apply for extended health care or optional life insurance coverage by providing proof of good health (evidence of insurability) should you wish to rejoin the plan at a later date. Premium Deductions Once you have provided your banking information through the Banking Information Required event in your OTIP secure member site, the required premiums will be deducted from your bank account on the 10th of every month or the next scheduled workday after the 10th. NOTE: Your March 2024 pre-authorized debit deduction may include a double deduction of premiums from your bank account for retroactive premiums, depending on when you add your banking information. |