Adding/Changing/Canceling Coverage

You, as an employee, pay for health care contributions and participate in the Cafeteria Benefits Plan with pretax dollars. Because of these tax advantages, very specific federal tax rules govern when you enroll, make changes, or cancel your health/dental care or FSA choices during a plan year. All employers, including FCPS, must comply with these regulations, and you must, too.

If you experience one of the following life changes, you have 30 days from the date of the event to change your health, dental and/or FSA coverage. The change you make must be consistent with the change in status. If you miss this 30-day deadline, you may not enroll, cancel, or change coverage until Open Enrollment in May.

The following events are examples of qualified status changes:

• Birth, adoption of a child, the placement for adoption of a child, or becoming the legal guardian of a child
• Marriage or divorce
• Death of a spouse or child
• Spouse’s or other dependent’s change in employment status that affects their eligibility for medical and/or dental benefits or their employer’s open enrollment
• Dependent age 19 to 23 and is not a full-time student
• Changing from a full-time to a less than half-time position or a less than half-time to a full-time position
• Loss of health care coverage
• A court order requiring you to cover a child or an order requiring someone else to provide coverage to your dependent
• Entitlement or loss of Medicare or Medicaid
• Beginning or returning from an unpaid leave of absence