SERMA – Your Spending Account (YSA) Tips

SERMA – Your Spending Account (YSA)
February 2011 – Update
Eligible Uses of Your SERMA/YSA

You may use your SERMA credits on the following eligible expenses:

1) IRMP Premiums – SERMA may be used to cover, in full or in part, your IRMP premiums. You may use your SERMA to offset your monthly IRMP premiums until you exhaust your SERMA account. NOTE: When you enroll in the IRMP plan on the My Health Benefits website you can elect to have either 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% or 100% of your IRMP premium to be automatically paid from your SERMA credits.

2) Premiums Outside IRMP – SERMA may be used to reimburse yourself for eligible non-Intel sponsored health care premiums paid for you, your spouse or Domestic Partner, and your eligible children. You may use your SERMA credits to offset your monthly eligible premium expenses until you exhaust your SERMA account. NOTE: To use your SERMA credits for these expenses you will need to submit a claim form with the fax cover sheet and a copy of the eligible receipt that details the expense (more detailed information on this process is listed below).

Eligible reimbursements may include premium payments for:

  • Individual health insurance (medical only)
  • Other employer retiree group health plans (excludes dental)
  • COBRA (excludes dental)
  • Medicare
  • Medigap
  • Long-term care

Helpful Tips to Utilizing your SERMA/YSA Successfully

As the SERMA/YSA implementation continues to roll out, we have identified some key learnings and clarifications. The Intel Retiree Organization has worked with Intel Benefits and would like to share the following helpful hints in to help you work through common issues:

1. If you are having trouble accessing the YSA account at www.intel.com/go/myben, the security settings on your computer may interfere with your ability to access the Hewitt website.

Tips on How to Check/Change your Computer Settings:

  • Pop up blocker is turned on – resolve by turning it off
  • Wrong URL site in cookies – resolve by deleting cookies
  • Allow/enable cookies

Since there are a variety of browsers your best option is to select the help option and ask about pop up blocker and cookies. That will guide you on how to work with your system. Additionally, the My Health Benefits site has some information that may be helpful:

Browser and Software Considerations: You can best experience this site on the following supported browsers and software.

  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0, 7.0, and 8.0
  • Firefox ® 3.5
  • Safari™ 4.0
  • Google™ Chrome 2.0
  • Browser settings – enable JavaScript™, cookies, and 128 bit secure sockets layer (SSL)  encryption
  • Adobe® Reader 6.0
  • Adobe® Flash Reader 8.0 or higher

Cookies:
Hewitt tracks content usage and traffic on this site by using “cookies”, a feature of your browser. A cookie is a text file that is placed on your hard disk by a web page server. Hewitt uses cookies to help it compile aggregated statistics about usage of this site, such as how many users visit the site, how long users spend viewing the content of the site; it is not shared with any other party for any commercial purposes. You can set your browser to notify you when you are sent a cookie. This gives you the chance to decide whether of not to accept it. If you disable cookies however, you may not be able to take advantage of all the features of this site.

Resolving these issues will vary significantly based on the internet browser you are using. It is important to remember that if you are unable to resolve the issue you always have the option to submit claims via fax or mail. You can contact the Intel Health Benefits Center at 877-466-9236 for assistance with mail and fax options.

2. YSA/SERMA tool availability for NEW retirees –The YSA/SERMA tab will not be available to you until your retirement effective date, which is typically the first of the following month after retirement. If you want to know your SERMA balance before it is available on the YSA site, you will be able to view it in the health plan enrollment section of the My Health Benefits website, or you can contact the Intel Health Benefits Center at (877)466-9236 to verify your SERMA balance.

Here are a few scenarios to illustrate the process and timing:

A. Retiree makes no election/takes no action (most common scenario)

  • Retirement date is 1/04
  • Retiree Enrollment Worksheet is mailed the first of the month after the retirement date, 2/01.
  • Retiree may elect IRMP select SERMA contribution percentage or chose to waive IRMP enrollment during the initial 30 days of the retirement event
  • Participant takes no action during the 30 day window
  • SERMA balance available on YSA beginning 3/03 (due to February having only 28 days)

B. Retiree makes election decision during initial 30 days after receiving Retirement Enrollment Worksheet

  • Retirement date is 1/04
  • Retiree Enrollment Worksheet is mailed the first of the month after the retirement date, 2/01.
  • Retiree may elect IRMP select SERMA contribution percentage or chose to waive IRMP enrollment during the initial 30 days of the retirement event
  • Retiree elects IRMP enrollment on 2/19
  • SERMA balance available on YSA beginning 2/19

C. Retiree makes election on-line AFTER retirement but PRIOR to receiving Retirement Kit

  • Retirement date is 1/04
  • Retiree Enrollment Worksheet is mailed the first of the month after the retirement date, 2/01.
  • Retiree may elect IRMP select SERMA contribution percentage or chose to waive IRMP enrollment during the initial 30 days of the retirement event
  • Retiree elects IRMP enrollment on 1/25
  • SERMA balance available on YSA beginning 2/02

3. SERMA Available Balance – If you are enrolled in IRMP, you can verify your SERMA balance after the 15th of each month. This allows time for any auto deduction transactions that may be pending for that month. Otherwise note that it typically takes 10 business days to process a claim. If you are not enrolled in IRMP you may review your balance anytime however, it is important to note any outstanding claims you may need to consider as you calculate your available balance.

4. Claim Processed Notices – The SERMA YSA program will provide you a claim processed notice each time a SERMA deduction/reimbursement is completed. You will receive the notice each time you submit a claim for reimbursement. The notice will indicate if the claim is approved or denied, and why it was denied. This letter will no longer be generated for retirees enrolled in IRMP. However the notice will continue for requests for reimbursement submitted.

Please note: This notice was previously sent to retirees who are enrolled in IRMP and utilize a SERMA contribution to offset the monthly IRMP premium. In the past if you used SERMA for your IRMP, you received a bill for your direct pay portion, but no notice regarding your SERMA contribution. With the movement of SERMA to the Your Spending Account, a system generated letter was produced automatically. We recognize that this may have been confusing. It is a standard reimbursement account letter and does not specifically address Intel SERMA. The intention of this letter (for anyone who received it in January or February) was simply to confirm that your SERMA account was debited, no additional action is required on your part.

5. Documentation for reimbursement from SERMA – Retirees who are not enrolled in IRMP, and wish to request reimbursement from SERMA will need to submit documentation in order to receive reimbursement. You may need to ask your health plan for the proper documentation to submit with your claim.

Acceptable documentation includes:

  • Confirmation of coverage statement – The confirmation needs to show who is covered, what the term premium is, how long coverage is provided and some reasonably detailed description of coverage (e.g., “xxx medical coverage”).
  • Declarations page
  • Certificate of plan benefits

If you are unsure if your documentation is acceptable please reach out to the Intel Health Benefits Center at (877)466-9236, choose the Your Spending Account option, to review your individual paperwork.

6. Additional Option for Additional SERMA contribution towards IRMP – If at any time you’d like to be reimbursed for an amount in addition to the contribution amount you have elected at enrollment (i.e. 25%) you may do so by filing a claim through Your Spending Account (YSA). You may create a new claim on the YSA website and submit the Intel Health Benefits Center Billing Notice along with documentation with your claim, such as a confirmation of payment for your IRMP premium. Note: if you have selected direct debit to pay your IRMP premiums, you will not receive a monthly bill.

If you are unsure if your documentation is acceptable, please reach out to the Intel Health Benefits Center at (877)466-9236, choose the Your Spending Account option to review your individual paperwork.

7. Process to Request Review of a Denied Claim –There are several reasons why your claim might be denied. For example, if you have an incorrect address, inadequate information on your receipt, if you submit claims for services incurred prior to 1/1/2011, if you submit claims for services in the future, if you submit your claim form without a receipt, if you submit your claim for an ineligible expense, or administrative error. If your claim has been denied and you are unsure of the reason why you can review the information online at www.intel.com/go/myben or you can contact the Intel Health Benefits Center at 877-466-9236, choose the Your Spending Account option. A YSA representative will review the claim and your documentation with you. In most cases you may need to submit additional documentation which the representative will discuss with you in detail. If an adjustment to your claim without any additional action from you is appropriate, the YSA representative will submit a case to the claims department to make the adjustment.

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