Your Benefits...

Many of us have opted for medical and dental benefits through the Durham District School Board.  As our employer, the Board pays 90% of the cost of the premiums for this coverage for full time teachers, as negotiated by ETFO, and we, as employees, pay the remaining 10% of the premium share. Long term disability (LTD) insurance coverage, on the other hand, is not an option when you are actively at work and we pay 100% of the premiums for this coverage- the employer pays nothing. This means that should you ever need to go on long term disability, your disability income will NOT be taxed.

Each year, the DDSB, as the plan administrator, must renew the contract with Manulife for our benefits.  As part of this renewal, the previous year's actual claims experience is taken into account, as well as changes we have negotiated through collective bargaining.  Any changes to premiums are typically made only once per year, in November, to minimize payroll changes.

This month, premium increases will take effect for all of our coverage - medical-dental, life insurance, accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) and long term disability.  

This month, you will notice a slight increase in the following benefit areas:

Group Life Insurance and AD&D

• Previous monthly rate was $0.133 per $1000 of coverage
• New monthly rate is $0.147 per $1000 of coverage  
• Remember that the Board pays 90% of this cost, so if you have $100,000 of coverage this would now cost $14.70 per month in total, and you would pay $1.47 0f that

Medical and Dental

• Previous monthly rate for SINGLE coverage was $115.75
• New monthly rate for SINGLE coverage is $117.93
• Previous monthly rate for FAMILY coverage was $317.83
• New monthly rate for FAMILY coverage is $324.45
• Remember that the Board pays 90% of this cost, so if you have SINGLE coverage your monthly 10% share has increased from $11.58 to $11.79, and if  you have FAMILY coverage your monthly share has increased from $31.78 to $32.45

Long Term Disability

• Previous premium rate was 1.061% of your annual salary
• New premium rate is 1.153% of your annual salary
• This premium increase is to cover our newest LTD benefit improvement:  a cost of living allowance of 2% per year for new LTD claims after January 2010 - I will post more about this issue tomorrow (Tuesday).  

Until then, be healthy!