Employee Benefits

Open Enrollment for 2024 Benefits

January 1, 2024 marks the renewal of our group benefit plans and open enrollment will kick off on November 2nd. Open enrollment is your annual opportunity to evaluate and make changes to your Luther College benefit elections including your health insurance, dental insurance, voluntary life insurance, health savings account, and flexible spending accounts.

Benefit-eligible faculty and staff may enroll in benefits via Norse Hub between November 2nd and November 17th, 2023.  If you do not complete online enrollment during that time, your current health insurance, dental insurance, life insurance, HSA contribution, and retirement contribution elections will automatically continue in 2024. See here for step-by-step instructions and scheduled work sessions to help you through the online enrollment process.

Eligible elections include the following:

• Enroll in, drop, or make changes to health insurance or dental insurance coverage; i.e. move from one plan to the other or drop/add dependents
• Update your 2024 Health Savings Account contribution elections (can be updated during the year)
• Make your 2024 Flexible Spending Account contribution elections (cannot be updated during the year)
• Add or increase voluntary life insurance coverage, subject to evidence of insurability

The 2024 Open Enrollment Benefits Guide has more details. The Summary of Benefits and Summary Plan Description for each plan will be found online on the HR website when they become available.

Open Forum Sessions 

To answer your health, dental, HSA, and flex questions, both in-person and virtual information sessions will be held.

• In person:  Thursday, November 2nd at 4:00 in Peace Dining Room
• Virtual:  Monday, November 6th at 9:00 via Zoom

If you are unable to participate in any of these two live information sessions, watch for information about accessing a recording of the virtual event. 

Online Benefit Enrollment Instructions

To ensure online benefit enrollment goes smoothly, we have prepared a step-by-step guide to walk you through the process. If you need assistance, you can make an appointment by emailing hr@luther.edu or calling x1134.

What Is Changing?

2024 Wellness Incentives: As part of Luther College’s wellness initiatives, 2024 carries additional health care requirements for employees and their spouses enrolled in the Luther College Health Care Plan. We ask that participating employees and spouses complete:

1. Community wellness blood panel
2. Routine physical exam

Unlike past years, participating employees will not be asked to complete a clinical health risk assessment (CHRA).

Employees who submit a form confirming that they completed those two steps by December 31, 2024 will avoid the additional health care premium of $25.00 per month which will otherwise begin on January 1, 2025.

Health Care Salary Bands:  The College is adjusting the salary bands used as the basis for contributions effective January 1, 2024, moving the cutoff between Tiers A and B to $41,200, and the cutoff between Tiers B and C to $61,800.

Health Care Rates:  The College is increasing employee health insurance premiums by approximately 1.5%. The national average cost increase for comparable employer-funded health care plans is 8%. The small premium increases in our 2024 renewal reflects a second consecutive year in which Luther plan expenses increased by less than the national average. Based upon current enrollment, the total 2024 health care budget is $5.1 million. The college will contribute approximately 74.5%, or $3.8 million. The total employee contributions will be approximately 25.5%, or $1.3 million.

Health Care Plan Changes:  Luther College will continue to offer PPO and HDHP plan options. The only significant plan change is that HDHP plan deductibles are increasing slightly to match changes in IRS regulations. 

Dental Plan Changes:  There are no changes to the employer contribution or plan designs this year.

Health Savings Accounts:  If you enroll in the HDHP option for 2024 and meet the criteria to contribute to an HSA, Luther will continue to make college-funded contributions. The 2024 IRS maximum employee contribution limits are $4,150 for individual coverage and $8,300 for family coverage (includes employee + 1 or family tier).  These limits include College contributions.

Flexible Spending Accounts: Healthcare flexible spending accounts and dependent care reimbursement accounts must be updated each year in order to remain active.