Online Health Enrollment for Active Employees
The Online Health Enrollment functionality allows all active employees, excluding California State University employees, to submit many health enrollment changes, along with supporting documentation, online through their myCalPERS account.
All eligible active employees can enroll themselves and their eligible dependents into health benefits. Additionally, with a qualifying event, those currently enrolled in health benefits, can:
- Add or remove dependents
- Change health plans
- Recertify a parent-child relationship
- Cancel coverage
During the annual Open Enrollment period, all eligible active employees can enroll themselves and their eligible dependents into health benefits, or submit Open Enrollment changes online. When an employee changes their health plan online, no action is required within myCalPERS by Human Resources (HR) departments. However, certain transactions such as new enrollments, adding a dependent, and some delete dependent transactions, will still require employer review of eligibility and documentation. Employers can monitor Open Enrollment transactions through on-demand Cognos reports.
What You Need to Know
Use of this functionality is at the discretion of your agency. If you choose to follow your existing health enrollment process, you may instruct your employees not to submit transactions through their myCalPERS account and reject any transactions that may have been submitted. Communicate to your employees to reach out to you directly for any questions or assistance related to Open Enrollment transactions.
Your HR department is still responsible for making all eligibility determinations and maintaining compliance with Internal Revenue Code section 125 Cafeteria Plans as applicable. You will have the ability to approve or deny most changes.
When your employees use the Online Health Enrollment functionality, you no longer need to collect the HBD-12 or other hard copy documents. All this information will be submitted electronically automatically. This is also an opportunity to direct your employees online to view publications like the Health Program Guide (PDF) and Health Benefit Summary (PDF, 1.8 MB); therefore, minimizing the need for hard-copy publications.
At the end of each day, the contact designated as the primary health benefits officer (HBO) will receive an email notification of any change requests or documents that your employees submitted that day. You’ll see the change requests on the home page of myCalPERS as well. The primary HBO will not receive an email if there were no change requests or documents submitted by your employees.
Based on the qualifying event, the system will prompt the employee to submit required documentation. Your employee will be able to upload all required documents, and you will be able to view and download these documents before approving the change. These documents will be saved in myCalPERS.
You can run Cognos reports to keep informed of all health enrollment changes your employees make.
myCalPERS generates on-demand reports using IBM Cognos software that queries your agency’s data. This allows you to run reports using criteria that you choose. To access Cognos reports, log in to myCalPERS for Employers & Business Partners and select the Reports link within the Common Tasks left-side navigation menu. Refer to the myCalPERS Employer Reports (Cognos) (PDF) student guide for additional information.
The table below lists three specific Cognos reports related to health benefits.
| Report Name | Description | Specific Input Parameter Required |
|---|---|---|
| Employer Health Event Transaction Report | This displays all employer health event transactions updated for your agency. These transactions include system batch transactions, e.g., 26-year-old delete, cancellation due to a permanent separation, etc. | Event Create Date Range (when the transaction was processed), Effective Date Range (when the transaction takes effect), or a single subscriber CalPERS ID. |
| Employer Health Enrollee Report | This provides a list of subscribers and their dependents enrolled in a CalPERS’ sponsored health plan, including those on direct pay and COBRA. | As of date. |
| Employer Health Event Notification Report | This provides all transactions are processed for your agency during a specific period. | Event Create Date Range (when the transaction was processed). |
Health Equity Starts with You
Advancing health equity is integral to CalPERS’ mission and our work to ensure that employees have access to high-quality, affordable, and equitable care. By encouraging your employees to complete their Health Demographic Profile in myCalPERS, you’re helping us to better understand our members and improve quality of care and health outcomes for all.
Employer Webinars
The myCalPERS Health Enrollment Self-Service (now referred to as Online Health Enrollment) webinar for public agency and school employers took place on December 8, 2021. You can view the Public Agency and School Employers: myCalPERS Health Enrollment Self-Service for Active Members for an overview of the functionality.
The myCalPERS Health Enrollment Self-Service (now referred to as Online Health Enrollment) webinar for state agency employers took place on January 12, 2022. You can view the State Employers: myCalPERS Health Enrollment Self-Service Webinar for Active Members for an overview of the functionality.
Frequently Asked Questions
These are answers to frequently asked questions we’ve received:
If an employee makes changes online, are HBO and Health Benefit Assistants (HBA) notified via email?
An email is sent to the email address designated as the primary health benefits officer.
No. If employers don’t want their employees to use this functionality, they must communicate that throughout their agency.
Yes. You can view, download, and print the following Cognos reports through myCalPERS: Employer Health Event Transaction Report, Employer Health Event Notification Report, Open Enrollment Health Plan Changes Report.
No. Employees don’t have to submit an HBD-12 when they make changes online.
Yes. Your HR department is still responsible for reviewing documentation submitted and making all eligibility determinations for transactions that require supporting documentation. Please note that Open Enrollment health plan changes don’t require supporting documentation; therefore, don’t require your review or approval.
Yes. These documents are saved in myCalPERS. Employers can reference these documents at any time.
Employers can run the Open Enrollment Health Plan Changes Cognos Report at any time through myCalPERS.
