Health Benefits

Southern Oregon University is committed to offering a benefits package that provides employees with options to choose the appropriate coverage to help manage health and wellness. PEBB (Public Employees’ Benefit Board) is the labor-management board that designs, contracts and administers benefits for the state of Oregon employees, which SOU is a part of.

HEALTH BENEFITS ELIGIBILITY

Employees that are benefit eligible work over 90 days at half-time or greater. Any other form of eligibility would come from notification from the Benefits Officer, such as qualifying for health benefits coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Irregular instructors or faculty members may qualify for health coverage if working over 8 ELU’s in one term, which is typically equivalent to a half-time position.

Employees have 30 days from their date of hire to make benefit elections. If no elections are made after 30 days, that employee would be considered a Decline. Eligible employees that Decline benefits may enroll during our annual Open Enrollment period the month of October, which take effect January 1 of the coming plan year. 

Eligible dependents include a spouse or domestic partner (review requirements and documents needed for domestic partnership) and any dependent children (review PEBB’s eligibility information in their Summary Plan Description).

ENROLLING IN HEALTH BENEFITS

Newly hired or newly eligible employees may enroll online or complete the Enrollment Form and submit to HR by the end your first 30 days. Benefits always take effect the first of the following month of enrollment. Aside from your initial enrollment, you can adjust your benefit elections year during PEBB’s annual Open Enrollment, which is the whole month of October. Open Enrollment requires all benefit eligible employees to go into the PEBB system to re-save their benefits or make needed changes AND go into their medical provider's website to complete the HEM (Health Engagement Model), a required health questionnaire (Opt-Outs go to the Providence Choice website). Completing Open Enrollment gives you a $17.50 incentive in your monthly paycheck; not completing Open Enrollment will raise your deductible up to $300 a year and PEBB will assume you are a tobacco user, if you are not, charging you higher rates and fees.

Explore SOU’s benefits package with the resources below:

Benefit Summary

The Benefit Summary is given to all new hires at the Benefits Orientation and is available for prospective hires as well. For detailed benefits information, refer to the Core, Optional and Wellness tabs below. 

Core Benefits cover medical, dental, vision and a guaranteed $5,000 of employee life insurance (which is automatic, not elected). Employees pay either 3% or 5% or the total benefit premium cost, depending on what medical election they choose. For 2018, if electing Providence Choice, employees will pay 3% of the total premium cost for Core benefits. If electing either of the other medical plans, PEBB Statewide or Moda Synergy, the employee will pay 5% of the total cost of Core benefits.

Optional Benefits include life insurances, disability insurances, accidental death & dismemberment, long-term care and flex-spending accounts are available for employees and employees eligible dependents. The employee pays 100% of these premiums.

Wellness Benefits are benefits available at no charge, where information, assistance, and resources are provided to employees, encouraging a wholesome and complete lifestyle.

Tips for New Hires: