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Benefits Open Enrollment

2025-2026 School Year

Staff Meeting Presentation

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Agenda

Meet the Total Rewards Team

2025-2026 Benefit Updates & Your Role

Understanding Plan Your Options & Resources

Questions

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Alanya Warfield, Manager of Total Rewards

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Jacob Acosta, Senior Manager of Total Rewards

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DSST Benefit Updates & Overview

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2025-2026 Updates

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25-26 Key Updates

  • All of our benefit offerings/plan types will remain the same as they were last year. This means you can continue to enjoy the same comprehensive coverage and perks that you're accustomed to.
  • We have lowered the Emergency Room copay to $500 from $750 on the copay plans.
  • We continue to offer inclusive, covered, gender-affirming care and fertility treatments.
  • There will be a slight increase in monthly premiums (6.1%).
    • While we always strive to keep costs as low as possible, we receive annual increases as a plan administrator and as a result, annual premium adjustments are necessary to ensure we can continue providing the level of coverage and support that you deserve. The average annual increase in renewals is 10-15% and we continue to work hard to ensure that DSST increases are as low as possible.

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Continued Benefit Offerings:

  • Family Benefits: partnering with _____ for 1 Smart Cycle available to all team members on medical with no waiting period for Fertility Care as well as continued Adoption Reimbursement up to $6,000 for qualifying adoption costs.

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  • Pet Insurance: option to sign-up for pet insurance for our furry loved ones at any time.

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  • Mental Health Resources: continuing to provide up to 8 free counseling sessions through SupportLinc (Employee Assistance Program)

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Open Enrollment Logistics:

  • If you are returning to DSST for the 25-26 school year, you will receive a Workday task on May 1 for your open enrollment.
  • Open Enrollment Runs Thursday, May 1 through Friday, May 30. The new plan year starts July 1, 2025.
  • Enrollment is passive (with the exception of your FSA). If you take no action, you will enrolled in your same current elections for 25-26.

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Your Impact & Your Role

  • DSST is Self-Funded for medical insurance - meaning that we pay directly for most medical claims.
  • When you make smart choices about care, we all win with lower annual increases:
    • Understanding your options and choosing the plan right for you
    • Using your resources to find high-quality, in-network care
      • Leverage free Telehealth
      • Leverage urgent care over the ER, when appropriate
    • Engaging with our cost-savings tools

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Medical Benefit Overview

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Understanding Your Options

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Employee Cost - Medical Specifics

24-25 → 25-26 Premiums

Plan Type

Monthly Period Premium Updates

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EE Only

EE+ Spouse

EE+ Child(ren)

EE+ Family

HDHP Base Plan

$43.45→ $46.09

$324.57→ $344.29

$202.61→ $214.92

$444.33→ $471.33

HDHP Buy Up Plan

$111.24→ $118.00

$506.11→ $536.87

$344.69→ $365.64

$703.84→ $746.61

COPAY Base Plan

$72.01→ $76.39

$406.74→ $431.46

$254.03→ $269.47

$600.92→ $637.44

COPAY Buy Up Plan

$153.67→ $163.01

$610.51→ $647.61

$416.58→ $441.89

$895.57→ $949.99

Premiums are increasing slightly for the upcoming year. However, we are excited that the increase is about 6.1%, compared to average 10%-15% average increase we expect to see in the benefits world.

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Selecting the Medical Plan Right for You:

Step #1: Choose a Plan Type - “High Deductible (HDHP)” or “Copay”

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    • High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP)
      1. Tradeoff: Ability to save pre-tax dollars over time in a Health Savings Account (HSA) then only use funds as needed along with coinsurance, but Higher Deductible & Higher Out-of-Pocket Max

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    • Copay Plan
      • Tradeoff: Lower Deductible & Lower Out-of-Pocket Max, but higher monthly premium cost & can only enroll in a Flexible Spending Account (FSA) for pre-tax savings which must be spent within the plan year.

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**Please note: deductibles reset on a calendar year schedule so your deductible will be reset as of January 1st, 2026.

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Selecting Your Medical Plan (cont.)

Step #2: Once you have decided whether to choose an HDHP Plan or a Copay plan, choose the “Base Plan” or the “Buy Up” option:

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    • Base Plans:
      • Tradeoff: Lower monthly cost out of your paycheck, but higher deductible and higher out-of-pocket max.

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    • “Buy Up” Plans:
      • Tradeoff: Higher monthly premiums, but lower Deductible & Lower Out-of-Pocket Max

**Please note: deductibles reset on a calendar year schedule so your deductible will be reset as of January 1st, 2026.

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Health Savings Accounts

Employees enrolled in the HDHP plans will get a Health Savings Account (HSA).

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  • You can contribute pre-tax dollars to your account for eligible medical expenses
  • You can update your contribution amount at any time in Workday (as long as you do not exceed the IRS annual maximum)
  • You will receive a debit card to use for eligible purchases and expenses from Rocky Mountain Reserve
  • This money stays with you and rolls over year to year

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Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)

  • Dependent Care FSA: You can make pre-tax contributions to an account that will reimburse you for eligible child care and adult care expenses. You must be eligible and working and the expense needs to be for a qualifying person.
  • Health Care FSA: You can make pre-tax contributions to an account that you can use to pay for eligible medical expenses. You must be benefits eligible and not be enrolled in a qualified high-deductible health plan.
  • Limited Purpose FSA: You can make pre-tax contributions to an account that you can use to pay for eligible dental and vision expenses. You must be benefits eligible and enrolled in a qualified High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP)

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Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)allows you to save pre-tax dollars to be used on expenses incurred within the plan year (July 1 - June 30). FSAs are “use it or lose it” so you should carefully consider how much you contribute to ensure you can use your funds before the plan year end.

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Dental & Vision Benefit Overview

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Understanding Your Options

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Dental/Vision & Voluntary Benefits

Benefit

Details

Monthly Premiums

Dental

  • 2 Plans; Still through Aetna; No plan changes
    • Base plan - $1000 in coverage
    • Buy-Up plan - $1500 in coverage (includes adult ortho)

Base Plan:

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  • EE: $9.13
  • EE + Spouse: $32.52
  • EE + Child(ren): $33.13
  • Family: $62.52

Buy-Up Plan:

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  • EE: $36.77
  • EE + Spouse: $89.09
  • EE + Child(ren): $91.20
  • Family: $156.99

Vision

  • 1 plan, Still through Aetna; No premium increase
  • EE: $6.31
  • EE + Spouse: $12.00
  • EE + Child(ren): $12.63
  • Family: $18.58

There is no change in offering. Slight premium costs increase this year for Dental. No premium increase for Vision.

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Voluntary Benefit Overview

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Understanding Your Options

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Voluntary Coverage Highlights

Voluntary coverage can provide valuable extra protections to supplement your DSST insurance or your other insurance.

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Aflac Accident Insurance

Cash benefit after qualifying accidents resulting in hospital admission/stay.

Aflac Hospital Indemnity

Cash benefit for an overnight hospital stay. Great for expectant parents planning to give birth in a hospital.

Aflac Critical Illness

Cash benefit for diagnosis of specified critical illnesses.

Spot Pet Insurance

Insurance for your four legged family members.

Allstate Identity Protection

Coverage in the event that your identity is stolen or misused.

ARAG Legal Insurance

Offers coverage for an array of legal issues and supports including traffic court/tickets/tenant disputes *see guide for specific covered services.

SunLife Life Insurance and AD&D

Option to purchase additional life insurance and accident, death & dismemberment insurance

*coverage amount may be subject to medical questions/qualification

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Do I Need Voluntary Coverage?

Consider if one or many of our voluntary coverages would help you and your family

  • Having a baby this year?
    • Consider getting Aflac hospital indemnity and ARAG legal services for will prep
  • Do you play sports or take advantage of Colorado’s outdoors?
    • Consider Aflac accident insurance or as an additional financial protection on for HDHP plans
  • Have a surgery planned for this year?
    • Consider getting Aflac hospital indemnity
  • Think you might get sick in the next year?
    • Consider getting Aflac critical illness

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Benefits for All

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Benefits for all eligible employees, regardless if you are on DSST insurance

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Benefits for All

DSST is proud to offer a range of additional benefits for all eligible employees, even if you do not have your medical insurance with DSST:

  • Employee Assistance Program (EAP): 8 free counseling sessions for you and everyone in your home per incident. EAP also includes a free legal session and free financial planning session and a range of online resources.
  • Basic Life and AD&D: each eligible employee has Basic Life and AD&D coverage at no cost. Life insurance is in the amount of your annual salary. *See benefits guide for more information
  • Telehealth: each DSST employee can create an online profile for themselves and their dependents to access free telehealth visits 24/7 through New Benefits. *note that the Telehealth visit is free, however, subsequent referrals or prescriptions are subject to the underlying insurance plan.

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Your Role

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Engaging & Investing in Yourself

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Use Your Resources

Engaging with supports and understanding your resources is important to help you manage costs and get the wellness support you need.

Quantum Health is your medical plan concierge. You can call/message Quantum to find in-network care, estimate costs, get a copy of your ID card, and review claims.

SmithRx coordinates coverage for specialty drugs and connects you with cost-saving grants and programs for prescriptions.

If you need imaging (MRI, CT scan, etc.) or other orthopedic procedure or surgery, review Valenz Health/KISx card. This resource connects you with high quality providers at a fraction of the cost (or no cost in some cases).

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Open Enrollment & Support

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Resources & Support

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Open Enrollment Support

  • Open Enrollment will run from Thursday, May 1 - Saturday, May 31, 2025. The new plan year will start Monday, July 1, 2025.

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  • You will receive a task to complete your Open Enrollment in Workday on May 1.

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  • The DSST Benefits Site is your go-to resource for the most updated benefits information, including the 25-26 Benefits Guide
    • To view information for the 2025-2026 school year, click on the 25-26 Open Enrollment Information page.
    • Open Enrollment ‘How To Guide’

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  • Office Hours where you can schedule time with the Total Rewards Team.

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Thank you!

Respect – Integrity – Doing Your Best – Responsibility – Courage – Curiosity