The Office of Human Resources

Medical Insurance

Brandeis works hard to provide comprehensive and affordable medical plan options for our benefit eligible employees. Our medical plans are self-insured, which simply means that Brandeis assumes the financial risk for providing medical coverage. This arrangement can provide greater flexibility in plan design and limits increased administrative costs that would be paid to an insurance company in a fully-insured arrangement. The University costs are off-set by employee contributions and a stop-loss maximum, which is in place to guard against significant expense/claims costs.

Tufts Health Plan is our third-party medical plan provider and we are part of EdHealth - an association of employers who purchase medical care in bulk.

This overall structure allows the University to more actively and effectively control costs, help control the design of the medical plans and better understand the overall spend on health care expenses.

Medical plan costs are expected to increase for all employers between 6% and 15% for 2023. The 2023 medical plan increase for Brandeis is estimated to be 9.3%. This is the percentage increase that has been actuarily calculated to cover the cost of expected medical claims. Factors that have contributed to the projected 9.3% increase for Brandeis include:

1. Increased number and amount of high cost claims (medical expenses associated with very serious medical conditions).
2. Increased cost of prescription drugs.
3. General medical cost inflation.

To mitigate passing this full cost increase on to employees, the University will limit the increase in employee working rates to 8.2% (Brandeis will pay for the additional costs). We believe this is a positive step to help buffer the effects of inflation and the general cost of living for our employees.

Dental and Vision Insurance

We are pleased to report that the cost for the dental plan and vision plan will not increase for 2023, and there are no anticipated changes in coverage for either plan.

Flexible Spending Accounts 

During open enrollment, if you are not making any benefits changes for 2023, no action is required. Your 2022 medical, dental and vision benefit elections (coverage and tier) will automatically be reinstated for calendar year 2023. A key exception to this is that ACTION IS REQUIRED if you wish to renew or set up a health care or dependent care (day care) flexible spending account for 2023. Because of the pre-tax nature of these programs, regulations require that an active election be made each year and that flexible spending accounts DO NOT renew automatically.

For the upcoming plan year 2023 the grace period to incur expenses for unreimbursed funds ends 3/15/2024. The last day to submit receipts is 4/30/2024.

For plan year 2022 (current plan year) the grace period to incur expenses for unreimbursed funds ends 3/15/2023. The last day to submit receipts is 4/30/2023.

For more information on how the programs work, registration and useful tools, please go to the flexible spending accounts web page.

Changes made during open enrollment are effective on January 1, 2023. Here's what you need to consider during open enrollment:

• Which medical plan best meets your needs and the needs of your covered family members? Brandeis University offers four different medical plans. Carefully consider any known preventive or wellbeing care, any specific medical conditions, in network or out of network care, etc.
• Will you cover yourself and/or dependents for dental and vision insurance? Brandeis offers dental and vision plans that generally cover eye exams, lenses, and frames.
• Do you have eligible medical or dependent care expenses that you would like to receive reimbursement for? During Open Enrollment, you can sign up to participate in the health care or dependent care flexible spending accounts. Both of these accounts allow you to put money aside before taxes to pay for eligible health care costs and child or elder care costs, respectively. Annual reenrollment is required for both plans.

Remember: If you take no action during Open Enrollment, the elections you made for 2022 for your medical, dental, and vision coverage will continue for 2023. To continue to use a reimbursement account, you must re-enroll for 2023.

The rates and plan summaries for each plan are included below.

Semi-Monthly Staff, Faculty and Post Doctoral Scholars Rates

• Medical
• Dental 
• Vision
• Medical, Dental, Vision (pdf)

Hourly Staff Rates

• Medical 
• Dental 
• Vision
• Medical, Dental, Vision (pdf)

Brandeis offers eligible employees a choice of Plans:

• Medical plans from Tufts Health Plan - Summary of Benefits: PPO (pdf), Cigna PPO (pdf), EPO Premium (pdf) and EPO Value Deductible (pdf)
• Compare Tufts Health Plans
• Two plans from Delta Dental: Delta DPPO High (pdf) and Delta DPPO Low (pdf)
• Voluntary vision coverage through VSP Vision Care (pdf)

We are pleased to report that the cost for the for Life and LTD plans will not increase for 2023.

• Employee Life Insurance Benefit
• Spouse Supplemental Life Insurance
• Child Life Insurance Rates
• LTD for Faculty
• LTD for Staff