To view the Cafeteria Plan Booklet for 2010

 

Missouri State University participates in the Missouri State Employees' Cafeteria Plan which allows full-time regular employees to contribute to certain benefit plans on a before-tax basis. The Plan allows employee contributions for optional insurance coverage and flexible spending accounts for reimbursable health care expenses and child/dependent care expenses to be taken out of each monthly paycheck before taxes are calculated. Under current tax law, any before-tax benefit payments made through the Plan will not be subject to federal income tax, state income tax, or social security taxes. As a result, the taxes withheld from an employee's monthly paycheck are less.

It is important to understand how the Cafeteria Plan works and its restrictions before choosing to participate. As an example, participation in the flexible spending accounts requires employees to carefully estimate their allowable expenses for the Plan year. Funds remaining in the accounts past the filing deadline at the end of the Plan year are forfeited to the State of Missouri.

 

Open Enrollment:

The annual open enrollment period for participation in the Cafeteria Plan is from October 1 through December 15, 2009 until 11:59 PM. Enrollment during this period is done online at www.mocafe.com. Employees who do not have access to a personal computer, either at work or at home, may use a computer in one of the various computer labs on campus to enroll online during the open enrollment period.  Contact Human Resources for the locations of the computer labs.

Enrollment for new hires:

Employees who begin employment with Missouri State University after the open enrollment period and who wish to participate in the Cafeteria Plan must enroll within 31 days of the date of their hire date. To enroll in the Cafeteria Plan after the open enrollment period, employees must obtain a paper enrollment form from Human Resources (Room #118, Carrington Hall) – online enrollment is not allowed after the open enrollment period ends on December 15th.

The Cafeteria Plan benefits include:

       A)  Qualified Insurance Premiums
                   Easy tax saving (basically a discount) on your cost for qualified payroll-deducted insurance plans

       B)  Health Care FSA
                   Save taxes on known, predictable costs of medical care during the plan year

       C)  Dependent Care FSA                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Save taxes on cost of care and well-being for your dependents while you work

Cafeteria Plan Facts:

1) You do not have to enroll in the cafeteria plan each year in order to keep your medical and dental insurance coverage. Enrolling in the cafeteria plan is not about "signing up" for your medical and dental insurance. Enrolling in the cafeteria plan is about paying for family insurance premiums and non-covered medical or dental expenses, or dependent care costs on a pre-tax basis. Therefore, only employees who anticipate having medical or dental expenses not covered by our insurance, or who elect Missouri State University family medical or dental insurance and want to pay the premiums on a pre-tax basis, or who have dependent care expenses should consider enrolling in the cafeteria plan.

2) If you have family medical or dental insurance, child care expenses, or noncovered medical or dental expenses, enrollment is automatic for some cafeteria plan options and therefore, you will not have to enroll for 2010 to continue your participation. However, enrollment is not automatic for other plan options and you will have to enroll online to continue your participation in 2010. The enrollment rules are summarized below and explain when a person must enroll, but you are encouraged to read the instruction booklet before attempting to enroll for 2010. We also want to emphasize that the December 15, 2009 deadline for enrolling cannot be extended!

ENROLLMENT RULES

• If you have family medical and/or dental insurance with Missouri State University and are paying the premiums through the cafeteria plan this year and you want to continue paying your premiums through the cafeteria plan in 2010, you do not have to re-enroll for 2010; enrollment is automatic.
  
  However, if you want to stop using the cafeteria plan to pay your family insurance premium(s) in 2010, you must follow the electronic enrollment procedures described in the Cafeteria Plan booklet  to stop participating. If you do not follow the instructions to stop participating, your insurance premiums will continue to be paid through the cafeteria plan for all of 2010.
   
• If you are currently using the flexible medical benefits and/or dependent care assistance options, and you want to continue using one or both of these options in 2010, you must follow the electronic enrollment procedures described in the booklet in order to continue your participation in one or both of these options for 2010. If you do not use the electronic enrollment procedures to enroll in either the flexible medical benefits or dependent care assistance options, or both for 2010, your participation in these options will end on December 31, 2009, and you will not be enrolled in 2010.
  
  If, however, you want to stop using the flexible medical benefits and/or dependent care assistance option in 2010, simply do nothing and your participation will automatically end on December 31, 2009.

If you are not currently participating in the cafeteria plan, but want to begin participating in 2010, you must use the electronic enrollment procedures described in the Cafeteria Plan booklet.

If you wish to participate in the flexible medical expense option, it is important to accurately estimate the amount of money you want to be redirected from your salary to your Cafeteria Plan account for flexible medical expenses. If you over-estimate the amount you need, the state of Missouri will keep the funds left in your account at the end of 2010. In determining how much money to have withheld from your monthly salary and deposited into your flexible medical expense account, here are three things to consider.

(1) Deductibles: The medical deductible for 2010 is $800 (individual) and $1,600 (family) if the medical services are provided by Taylor Health & Wellness Center or a St. John's hospital, clinic, or healthcare provider (i.e., in-network). However, if the medical services are provided by a hospital, clinic, or healthcare provider other than Taylor Health & Wellness Center or who isn't in the St. John's network, the 2010 deductible is $1,600 (individual) and $3,200 (family) as out-of-network.

(2) Out-of-Pocket Maximums: The annual maximum out-of-pocket amounts (deductible + co-insurances) are $2,800 per person or $5,600 per family if medical services are from Taylor Health & Wellness Center or a St. John's hospital, clinic or healthcare provider. However, if medical services are from a hospital, clinic, or healthcare provider other than Taylor Health & Wellness Center or who isn't in the St. John's network, then the annual maximum out-of-pocket amounts are $5,600 per person and $11,200 per family. A directory of St. John's hospitals and network health care providers is available on the Human Resources web site at the address below. http://www.stjohns.com/healthplans/dyn_EmployerProviderSearch.aspx?emp=MSU/Missouri%20State%20University

(3) Prescription Medication Expenses: On January 1, 2004, your prescription benefit was changed to a 30% co-pay plan design. Each time you fill a prescription, you must pay 30% of the price for the medication; our insurance pays the balance of 70%.  Your co-pay increases to 50% if you purchase a brand name medication when a generic equivalent was available and your physician had approved the generic medication.  Throughout 2010, as you get prescriptions filled, you will continue to pay the co-pay until you have paid a total of $1,500 out of your pocket. Once you have paid $1,500, every prescription you get filled after that point is paid 100% by our insurance for the remainder of the 2010 calendar year. Employees are reminded that the $1,500 out-of-pocket amount for prescriptions is in addition to the medical deductible and out-of-pocket amounts discussed in paragraphs (1) and (2) above.

Although we have suggested three medical plan factors that should be taken into consideration when determining how much to redirect from your salary to your Cafeteria Plan account for medical expenses, your medical flexible spending account can also be used to pay for non-covered dental expenses (example - orthodontia), or for the costs of eye exams or glasses or contact lenses. Refer to the Cafeteria Plan booklet for a partial listing of expenses that are eligible for reimbursement from your medical flexible spending account . 

Please note: A ruling by the Internal Revenue Service in 2003 significantly changes the type of expenses that qualify for reimbursement from the medical flexible spending account in our cafeteria plan. Over-the-counter drugs and medicines that are purchased to treat an existing or imminent medical condition qualify as a covered medical expense which can be reimbursed through the flexible medical spending account in our cafeteria plan. This ruling means that items such as allergy medications, smoking cessation medications, aspirin, cold medications, vitamins and nutritional supplements (to name a few) can be claimed as medical expenses if they are purchased to treat an existing or imminent medical condition. However, none of these items can be claimed if they are purchased for general health purposes or for possible future use.

Employees may also use the Cafeteria Plan to pay for dependent care costs on a pre-tax basis. Employees are cautioned that these rules differ from those for medical or dental expense reimbursements and they are encouraged to read the instructions thoroughly before selecting this option.  Please refer to the Cafeteria Plan booklet.

The Cafeteria Plan will send an email confirmation of enrollment notice prior to December 31, 2009, to all employees who elect to participate in the Medical Flexible Spending Account or Dependent Care Assistance options for calendar year 2010. If you do not receive your confirmation of enrollment notice by then, call 1-800-659-3035 during normal business hours.

Filing Claims:

Claims forms for participants who elect either the flexible medical benefits and/or dependent care assistance option are available in the Office of Human Resources, on the Internet at www.mocafe.com, or at the Human Resources forms web page.  As always, if you have any questions, please call the Office of Human Resources at 836-6616 and ask for Julie Dubinsky.

The Cafeteria Plan will accept claim forms that are faxed (toll-free) to them at 1-866-381-9682.

Cafeteria Plan Contacts:

In the Office of Human Resources - Julie Dubinsky –
at (417) 836-6616