2023 Benefits Open Enrollment Starts October 19

Controlling Premium Increases

Health care costs in the United States and the St. Louis area continue to rise faster than general inflation. In 2023, the University’s healthcare plan costs are anticipated to increase by more than $4M, or about 19%.

There are three reasons for this increase: 

• Higher costs of medical treatments.
• Higher costs of prescription drugs, especially new medicines.
• Much greater use of healthcare services by our employees and their dependents, many of which had postponed doctor visits and elective procedures during the height of the pandemic.

 Despite rising costs and increased utilization of healthcare services, SLU remains committed to providing a competitive plan, controlling plan costs, and minimizing the healthcare costs paid by our faculty and staff. 

 As part of our annual review process, we assembled a representative group of faculty and staff to compare our employee contribution rates and plan design to ensure that our plan is competitive with other higher education institutions and local employers. This year, as in past years, plan changes were focused on maintaining a competitive health care plan while ensuring the University continues to cover 75% of the plan’s total cost, with the remaining 25% covered through employee contributions.  

 To maintain this balance, while addressing increased costs, employee health insurance premiums for 2023 will increase by approximately 4%. The University’s health insurance costs will increase by a projected 22%, or $3.5 M. This means that SLU will absorb 87.5% of the projected increase in health insurance costs for 2023, in order to minimize the impact on employee premiums.  

 You may view all the premium contribution amounts by clicking here. 

Continuing Subsidized Premiums 

Keeping health insurance affordable for the lower-paid members of our community is consistently identified as a top priority by many faculty, staff and administrators.  

 In 2023, we will continue to offer employee-only coverage with no monthly premium contribution to employees who make less than $40,060. In addition, we have also frozen employee contribution rates at the other tiers of healthcare coverage for this group of employees.  

 To help ensure affordability for this group of employees, we will again ask faculty and staff at the higher end of the pay range, $150,000 or more annually, to contribute a little more than the standard contribution rate.  

Three Plan Tiers  

The medical plan will continue to consist of three coverage tiers: 

• Tier 1, consisting of SLUCare and SSM providers, will continue to offer excellent care but with a more cost-effective plan design.
• Tier 2 coverage, which provides in-network access to a broader pool of providers, will also continue to be offered.
• Tier 3 coverage includes any out-of-network provider. This option is rarely accessed by participants.

 In each tier, participants will see adjustments to the plan design to help offset increased claim costs.

Click here to access a quick view of the 2023 medical plans.  

Wellness Premium Discount 

Biometric screening is a pillar of the University’s wellness program and is required for employees to receive the wellness premium discount each year.  

 We believe that this is an important part of the annual screening process because it helps to identify major health risks before they cause issues.  

• Details on how to schedule a biometric screening through our biometric screening provider, Quest, were provided on Sept. 12.
• Employees who completed and submitted a Biometric screening in 2022 will not be required to complete another screening during the fall 2022 screening period.  The benefit credit will automatically be applied for the 2023 plan year.

Open Enrollment in Workday  

Detailed job aids are available to guide employees through the enrollment process.  

• To prepare for the open enrollment period, we recommend that all employees review their dependents and add any new dependents to their profiles.
• Dependent verification documents will be required for any new dependents added. Employees can do this by following the open enrollment job aid.

 Finally, in mid-October, you will receive an open enrollment guide via email with additional information on the University’s 2023 benefit offerings.  Alex, “your personal virtual benefits counselor/assistant,” will be available for additional help beginning October 14th. 

We sincerely appreciate your contributions to the University and hope you will participate in the upcoming Virtual Open Enrollment Meetings.