Experiencing a qualified life event such as marriage, or birth of a child, allows you to make changes to your benefits. If you do not have a qualified life event during the year you may make changes annually during Open Enrollment, which occurs each year in the fall. Any changes made during the open enrollment period will be effective January 1, 2019. Human Resource Services will announce information regarding Open Enrollment through our Benefits webpage, HRS Latest News, Inside UNI, UNI email, and home mailings. Keep watching, more information will be coming soon.

A common misconception about an Explanation of Benefits (EOB) is that it is a bill. An EOB is a document sent by your insurance company. Your EOB tells you how much the provider charged, how much your insurance company is paying for the service, the network savings, and how much (if any) you are responsible for.

You can sign up to receive electronic EOB’s through your myWellmark® account with four simple steps:

1. Log in or register for myWellmark® at Wellmark.com.
2. Select My Account from the menu at the top.
3. Click Edit under My Web Account.
4. Under Information and Messaging, select "I agree to receive important information about my plan electronically" and Save Changes.

Visit our Health Insurance Made Easy webpage to learn more about how to read an EOB as well as how to sign up for a MyWellmark account.

Wellmark®, UNI’s health insurance vendor, offers tools to help members determine the cost of an appointment prior to visiting the doctor’s office. These tools are called the Wellmark Care Finder and Cost Estimator Tool located within the MyWellmark system. These tools will show you what your out-of-pocket cost will be for different types of services and appointments. Keep in mind that services done within the state of Iowa cost the self-insured plans less than when services are done outside of the state. The Wellmark Care Finder tool also provides ratings and reviews on providers when you complete a search. We have put together a website called Know Before You Go to help you select your care.