OPERS 277 East Tow St. Columbus, OH 43215 Employer Outreach Iside this issue Health Care: Updates... GASB Updates... Overview of chages to defied cotributio plas... Ifo to Go... Remiders... Call for Members: Employer Advisory Coucil eyeig secod term... Raisig pesio visibility for all public employers... 1-3 4-5 6 7 8-9 10-11 12 Health Care: Updates Employers are ot expected to serve as retiree health care advisors. However, may employers are trusted resources for recet ad sooto-be retirees. This at-a-glace iformatio provides you with a overview... Health Care Update: What employers eed to kow for 2016 We recogize the usettlig ature of chage especially durig a trasitio period. That s why OPERS has provided extesive outreach to esure all retirees kow exactly how to avigate through the modificatios to the health care program. Modificatios will become effective Ja. 1, 2016 ad ope erollmet for health care begis Oct. 1, 2015 meaig, specifically, that we are i the trasitio period for retirees ad re-employed retirees. Here are the key poits all employers should kow: What employers ca do Although we recogize employers remai a trusted resource for may retirees, we kow you are ot experts i OPERS retiree health care. If a retiree reaches out to you with questios, please... Have that idividual cotact the OPERS Member Services Call Ceter. Ecourage retirees to review iformatio set directly to them by OPERS (or verify OPERS has the correct mailig address). Remid retirees that ope erollmet packets will be set i September ecourage the idividual to review iformatio o the OPERS website prior to receivig. Recogize that trasitio ca be stressful, but remid retirees that i-perso ad olie semiars are available for both Medicare-eligible ad o-medicare eligible retirees. (For Medicareeligible retirees, more tha 200 sessios have bee scheduled i Ohio.) Medicare-eligible retirees have a over-the-phoe couselig sessio with (cotiued o page 2)
Health Care: Updates (Cotiued from page 1) a licesed beefit advisor from OeExchage to help each eroll i the best pla for their particular situatio. Is the outreach workig? I a word, yes. Take a look: OPERS has idetified approximately 156,500 eligible retirees who will be trasitioig to the OPERS Medicare Coector. Each of these idividuals will have received a call from a licesed OeExchage beefits advisor by the publicatio of this ewsletter. More tha 50 percet of all i-perso educatioal sessios are filled to capacity. OPERS will cotiue to add additioal sessios to esure all who would like a i-perso ecouter have the opportuity to atted. Does your orgaizatio employ OPERS retirees? (Referred to as re-employed retirees) A re-employed retiree is defied as a OPERS retiree who is receivig a pesio while, at the same time, is employed by a OPERS-covered employer. If the aswer is yes, maybe, or ot sure here s iformatio you eed to kow Employers who are cosiderig hirig a OPERS retiree for a OPERS-covered positio should ecourage that idividual to cotact OPERS to be certai he/she has a complete uderstadig of the impact re-employmet could have o health care coverage. OPERS has idetified approximately 9,000 curret re-employed retirees. All idetified re-employed retirees (both Medicare-eligible ad ot-eligible) have received detailed health care iformatio. Re-employed retirees who are ot eligible for Medicare will have a separate pla called the Medical Mutual Iterim Pla. The features ad coverage for this pla are similar to the OPERS retiree health care pla ad their allowace is the same amout as if they were ot reemployed. Re-employed retirees who are eligible for Medicare will have a choice betwee erollig i a idividual Medicare pla through OeExchage without a OPERS allowace or erollig i the group pla (Humaa Iterim Pla) offered by OPERS with the same allowace amout as if they were ot re-employed. Their ope erollmet packet will explai each optio, icludig costs. 2
Begi empowerig employees Betwee ow ad 2016, retirees ad reemployed retirees will be i a trasitio phase for health care. Together, we will successfully avigate this trasitio. We ask that you ecourage your soo-tobe retired employees ad re-employed retirees who may be employed at your orgaizatio to look to OPERS for iformatio o health care coverage. For more iformatio ad educatioal opportuities, your employees should visit www.opers.org. OPEN ENROLLMENT OCT. 1-31 Ope erollmet for OPERS group medical plas ad optioal coverages is slated for Oct. 1-31, 2015 the selectios become effective Ja. 1, 2016. All participats will or have received iformatioal packets with detailed, persoalized iformatio. If your re-employed retirees OR retirees ask you for your iput, please refer them to OPERS for assistace. Medicare-eligible recipiets will also receive detailed, persoalized iformatio ad should make a erollmet phoe appoitmet with OeExchage as soo as possible. By the Numbers Importace of OPERS to the Ohio Ecoomy OPERS is more tha secure retiremet for Ohio s public employees. The System is a importat ecoomic driver for all Ohioas, the regio ad the atio. Take a look: Who do we serve? As of year-ed 2014, OPERS had more tha oe millio members This figure icludes 203,112 retirees ad beeficiaries The System works with approximately Wow! 3,700 public employers 3
GASB: updates Two oteworty topics First, we made it As promised, ad oly by workig closely with employers (our thaks to all who voluteered for the testig), OPERS provided the proportioate share iformatio for employers via ECS by the target date of Jue 30, 2015. The proportioate share iformatio is critical for those employers madated to use the ew accoutig stadards as provided by GASB 68 specifically, the stadards require OPERS-covered employers to reflect a portio of the ufuded pesio liability o employer fiacial statemets. However, remember, employers are NOT required to fud that liability beyod the required cotributio rate. This is a fiacial reportig chage, ot a fudig chage. Sice 2011, whe the ew reportig stadards were released i exposure drafts, OPERS actively started parterig with employers to esure all iformatio was available. After years of outreach ad testig, OPERS is pleased to ote that oly a small amout of the 3,700 employer orgaizatios (97 calls ad e-mails for clarificatio through the ed of August) have had questios. Employers with questios felt comfortable cotactig the OPERS Fiace Divisio directly to work through the data provided ad distill the correct iformatio for their orgaizatio. Simply put, the OPERS-employer partership is workig ad together we ca esure the GASB-required stadards are implemeted o time ad accurately. Thaks to all for your partership. Yet to come Recetly, as you may kow, GASB aouced additioal stadards that will affect employers. The stadard impactig employers, GASB Statemet No. 75 (GASB 75), Accoutig ad Fiacial Reportig for Postemploymet Beefits Other Tha Pesios, requires ew fiacial reportig stadards for other post-employmet beefits (OPEB). OPEB for OPERS is health care. GASB 75: Is similar to the pesio reportig chages, i that the accoutig requiremets for fiacial reportig will be modified ot the fudig requiremet. Requires OPERS to provide proportioate share iformatio o the et OPEB liability to employers. Requires employers to iclude their share of the et OPEB liability o their fiacial statemets. Parterig with employers OPERS views the ew stadard as especially problematic sice health care i Ohio is discretioary. Health care ca be modified to esure the log-term solvecy of the fud ad the ability to provide future coverage withi the fudig available. As with 4
GASB 68, OPERS worked to mitigate the impact o employers by participatig with GASB i a test implemetatio o the exposure drafts, testifyig at the GASB hearig ad issuig a commet letter to GASB. Although the fial stadards were ot substatially chaged from the exposure drafts, OPERS was able to help secure a delayed implemetatio date i the fial stadards. Timelie GASB 75 is effective for fiscal years begiig after Jue 15, 2017 meaig 2018 for most OPERS-covered employers. (The origial date was approximately oe reportig period earlier.) Our commitmet We aticipate the et OPEB liability proportioate share will likely be sigificat ad volatile to employer fiacial statemets, similar to the et pesio liability. Rest assured, OPERS will cotiue to work with employer orgaizatios ad bod ratig agecies to miimize the egative impact o employers. OPERS fiace professioals have already started detailed assessmets o the impact of the ew stadards so that outreach to employers is reliable, accurate, ad delivered i a timely fashio. Together, we will do it agai Nothig average about OPERS members, public employees provide extraordiary services. Here s a sapshot of retiremet beefits* eared: OPERS Members Average age at retiremet: 58 Years credit 23 Projected mothly pesio beefit: $2,071 *Iformatio from the OPERS 2014 Comprehesive Aual Fiacial Report 5
Overview of chages to defied cotributio plas OPERS works to make ecessary chages after extesive evaluatio ad will geerally implemet chages usig a icremetal approach. Throughout 2015, chages have bee ad will be made to the OPERS Member-Directed Pla ad the defied cotributio portio of the Combied Pla. The chages are desiged to elimiate subsidies created at the time the plas were iitiated to esure pla viability. The first of the chages became effective July 2015 ad icluded: Chaged the vestig schedule ad cotributio rate for the Member- Directed Retiree Medical Accout. Icreased the term to purchase pla chage service credit from 180 days to 60 moths after the pla chage effective date. Reduced the umber of times a member ca chage OPERS retiremet plas. Chages effective Ja. 1, 2016 iclude: Chagig the allocatio of the employer cotributio for Member- Directed RMAs ad the mitigatig rate for the Member-Directed ad Combied pla members. Note: The total amout of the employer cotributio remais the same. Likig the iterest rate of the Member-Directed Pla members RMA iterest rate to the aual ivestmet retur of OPERS pesio assets. Stadardizig the admiistrative fees for defied cotributio plas. Begis the first stepped icrease of the mitigatig rate from 0.77 percet to 1.00 percet. As always, OPERS works to parter with employer orgaizatios to esure trasparecy for ad uderstadig of all actios. OPERS has plaed sigificat outreach to keep employers ad other key stakeholders iformed about these chages. I additio, employers will receive targeted iformatio to help keep your employees iformed ad to help you make sure all your ew-employee oboardig iformatio is accurate. Actio eeded As oted, the overall employer rate does ot chage, so o actio is ecessary i terms of remittaces. However, if your orgaizatio tailors packaged pesio iformatio for ew employees, please review to esure accuracy. OPERS is providig detailed iformatio directly to all members who have selected the Combied Pla or the Member-Directed Pla some of these idividuals may be your employees. If employees cotact you with questios, please direct them to the OPERS website, www.opers.org, where complete iformatio about these chages ca be foud. 6
Ifo to go All ECS all the time: Welcomig Alle, Clark, Hamilto, Loga ad Summit Couties to the all-ecs list meaig all public employers i these couties are usig ECS. We thak you ad your employees ad future retirees, for usig the techology that ehaces accuracy. ALLEN LOGAN OTTAWA SUMMIT Supreme Court rulig o same-sex marriage: Due to the recet U.S. Supreme Court rulig fidig that all couples have a costitutioal right to marry, several features of OPERS pesio beefits ad health care coverage will be affected. Employees should be directed to www.opers.org to obtai specific iformatio as well as ay ecessary forms. To esure their spouse is recogized i terms of beeficiary desigatios ad health care erollmet, employees will be required to submit their marriage certificate prior to ay updates to their idividual accout beig made. BUTLER HAMILTON CLERMONT CLARK Regardig health care: Note that ay chage to health care coverage, if ot made by Sept. 25, will eed to be completed durig upcomig ope erollmet for coverage effective Ja. 1, 2016. 7
Remiders Accuracy couts make sure pay period codes are used correctly Employers are ecouraged to esure all employees who process pesio iformatio use the pay period begi (PPB) ad pay period ed (PPE) codes correctly. This iformatio was recetly provided as a ECS Tip of the Moth ad is beig shared here to esure all levels of your orgaizatio uderstad the importace. The PPE codes have the most variety, ad cause the most cofusio. Here s a overview: Retiremet otificatio: Use PPE code P Employee has termiated employmet: Use PPE code Q Seasoal employees: Use PPE code S (if you do ot aticipate they will be o your ext Report of Retiremet Cotributios but the employmet relatioship is cotiuig). Studets workig for their college or uiversity (curretly attedig) who choose to exempt: Use PPE code X Employees are beig paid i a way that is ot cosidered earable salary: Use PPE code X Impact of iaccurate reportig is sigificat Iaccurate codes may cause delays whe processig retiremets because of iaccurate employee accout iformatio ad o oe wats that to happe. The proper use of PPB ad PPE codes esures your employees trasitio smoothly toward retiremet. Aual o-cotributig list The o-cotributig list for caledar year 2015 is due o or before to Ja. 31, 2016. Employers are ecouraged to begi the process well before the ed of the year to esure the deadlie is met. Also, employers should keep i mid that, while the o-cotributig list is required aually, o-cotributig lists ca be submitted throughout the year as idividuals begi ad ed employmet or persoal services relatioships. No-cotributig idividuals are defied as those who are providig services to a public employer but are ot makig retiremet cotributios. What s eeded All public employers must fill out the No-Cotributig List report (form- NCL) for 2015. The list must iclude all idividuals providig services durig the precedig caledar year, for whom you did ot provide retiremet cotributios, icludig: 8
33 Ay worker ot reported to ay of the Ohio retiremet systems 33 Studets who have exempted from membership 33 Idepedet cotractors or workers performig services uder persoal cotracts where o retiremet cotributios are remitted 3 Elected officials who have ot chose OPERS membership 33 Electio workers earig less tha $600 durig the caledar year o days where the polls are ope Although the OPERS website (www.opers. org, Employer Sectio) provides exact iformatio about how to submit your report ad what must be icluded, be aware begiig Ja. 1, 2016, employers will be required to submit idividual s Social Security umber. I the state of Ohio, form JFS 07048 requires employers to obtai SSNs from idividuals eterig ito persoal services cotracts withi 20 days of the cotract or hire date. Questios about this report should be directed to your Employer Accout Represetative at 888-400-0965. 33 Ay other idividual for whom OPERS cotributios are ot remitted by the public employer but who has performed work for a public employer Where do those fuds go? Mostly, retiremet fuds stay right here i Ohio. * OPERS Fuds Percetage of retirees livig i Ohio More tha 90% Nearly 100% of OPERS active members (your employees) who pay taxes ad reside withi the state For every dollar paid by employers, the ecoomy realized a direct retur of $3.74 *Iformatio from the OPERS 2014 Comprehesive Aual Fiacial Report 9
Call for Members: Employer Advisory Coucil eyeig secod term I 2013, Employer Services iitiated a iovative program desiged to parter with employers so the busiess of pesios could be seamlessly itegrated ito employer orgaizatios. This iitiative was the Employer Advisory Coucil. The coucil was desiged to provide a opportuity for employer represetatives to work with OPERS o specific operatios-orieted programs that directly touch employers. The Employer Advisory Coucil is ot a advisory group for policy. The first coucil comprised 15 employer orgaizatios ad represeted the 3,700 employer etities with a statistical mix of types of employers (muicipalities, state, miscellaeous, towships), size of employer (small, medium, large), ad a geographic mix (aroud the state). The represetatives met as eeded ad were also asked to assist with providig isights to pesio busiess operatios ad processes. The result? Due to the coucil s collective efforts, OPERS was able to sigificatly ehace pesio operatios for all employers. This group provided iput ad isights o: Implemetatio of GASB Statemet No. 68 Operatioal implemetatio of legislated chages Busiess process redesigs such as large earigs Improved data accuracy i reportig to OPERS, such as cesus data validatio Tools for employees such as the OPERS Retiremet Plaer Next chapter Now, it s time for the coucil to eter a ew chapter the two-year commitmet of curret members cocludes at the ed of 2015. OPERS will cotiue to target coucil meetigs as eeded. (Although the first coucil met less regularly, members of the coucil were asked to participate i multiple ad hoc projects right at their site.) As before, the umber of meetigs will deped o the umber of projects deployed i ay give year. To esure cotiuity of operatios ad projects, coucil members will be asked to make a miimum two-year commitmet. I additio, employermembers will be ecouraged to ivite the meetig-topic subject matter experts from their orgaizatios to atted with the mai represetative. 10
Our thaks These employers gave valuable iput that resulted i major iitiatives flowig smoothly from OPERS to our parters, Ohio s public employers. Our thaks to the iaugural coucil members: Ket State Uiversity The Ohio State Uiversity State of Ohio Cuyahoga Couty Public Library Memorial Hospital of Uio Couty City of Columbus Frakli Couty Auditor City of Lima Lorai Couty Commuity College City of Dayto Mahoig Couty Metro RTA Akro Kox Area Trasit Uiversity of Ciciati Village of Coldwater Iterested i servig? All curret members of the Employer Advisory Coucil are ivited to stay with the coucil for aother term. As a result, we do ot kow how may or which type of employer represetative will be eeded for the secod term of the Employer Advisory Coucil. However, we are seekig iterest through fourth quarter 2015. If you would like to be cosidered to serve o the OPERS Employer Advisory Coucil, cotact: Employer Services at 888-400-0965. A word about ivestmets OPERS created a special fud desiged to ivest i Ohio ad the Midwest. As of 12/31/2014, OPERS has committed: $700 millio to the program ivested i 69 Ohio-based compaies that employ approximately 9,000 More tha half of the retiremet beefit is produced by ivestmet returs o employer ad employee cotributios that are ivested throughout a idividual s public career. 11
Raisig pesio visibility for all public employers For OPERS ad employers, we recogize it s critical to reach all employees regardig importat retiremet decisios made throughout a idividual s workig career. Aual poster provides solutios We are committed to raisig pesio visibility for all employees, ad employers have respoded. Each year, for the past five years, OPERS has produced a poster for employer orgaizatios. The purpose of the OPERS poster has bee to remid public employees of the importace of makig just the right retiremet decisios throughout the active career. Employer partership requested The poster is produced free of charge ad set to all public employers. We ask employers to be creative about placig the poster i high-visibility areas such as: All sites, if your orgaizatio is a multiple-site employer Break rooms Huma resources offices Kiosks Coferece rooms, if used for employee meetigs Employers may order additioal posters at o cost. Simply cotact your Employer Services represetative, or request olie at www.opers.org. The 2015 poster remids public employees about makig retiremet decisios throughout all the seasos of their career. Retiremet decisios are importat throughout all the seasos of your career Just a sprig startig out? Select the best retiremet pla for you. Register for a OPERS olie accout. I full bloom? Review ad update your OPERS beeficiary desigatios at least every five years or with life chages. Stay iformed about the beefits you re earig by reviewig your aual statemets. Stay curret by readig ewsletters ad other OPERS commuicatio you receive. OPERS will brach out to parter with you We ll sed you e-mail remiders ad/or updates whe you eed to review iformatio. You ll fid ewsletters, your aual statemets, ad self-service optios available through your OPERS olie accout (if you have't already, sig up today). 12 277 East Tow Street Columbus, Ohio 43215-4642 1-800-222-pers (7377) www.opers.org e_q3_15 copy.idd 12 OPERS wats you to have your complete retiremet picture 9/14/2015 10:14:33 AM