The Group Insurance Office of the Department of Administration announced this week that Blue Cross will have an online form available to help state employees complete the new enrollment process.

The form should be accessible from the Blue Cross web site – http://www.bcidaho.com – by the first day of open enrollment, May 1. Because the state is making a transition to a new health insurance provider, effective July 1, all participating state employees will need to complete an enrollment form by the end of May.

Choices made under the Regence BlueShield plan, which expires on June 30, do not automatically rollover to the new plan.

The new enrollment form – which includes options for dental, vision and mental health services – should take between five and 25 minutes to complete, depending on the complexity of an employee’s need. Several employees from ITD, including field staff and administrative staff, have helped to test the on-line application. Everyone involved indicated that it was fairly easy to use.

ITD management supports the need of employees to enroll during work hours from their worksite. Because the online form will be available at the Blue Cross site, enrollees also have the option of completing the process from home or other locations.

They also may choose the traditional paper form to indicate their health insurance options. Although the paper version is sufficient, there are compelling advantages to using the online enrollment process. Benefits of the electronic process include:

ITD employees in Boise may attend a meeting scheduled at Headquarters, April 27, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. to get firsthand information or to ask questions.

Employees are encouraged to attend the most convenient meeting to become better informed about health insurance options and the enrollment process. For a list of pre-open enrollment meetings statewide, please refer to the schedule.

Human Resources will continue to provide additional information as it becomes available.