As a result of the ongoing negotiations between the District and SPFE, several proposals have been brought forth from both sides. One proposal that has been put forth is regarding the language for married couples within the District regarding the ability to waive coverage. In order to combat any questions, we are sending you this email as part of a married couple within SPPS to ensure you have the most updated and accurate information.

There are no changes to the married couple setup for 2024.

Employees who are part of a married couple will still be able to have one person waive coverage, and enroll on the spouse’s plan. Those employees who typically receive “flex credits” as part of their married couple enrollment will continue to see that for 2024.

What’s Next:

Negotiations between SPPS and SPFE may result in changes to this portion of the contract, and any changes agreed upon in negotiations will be communicated with proper notification to our married employees.

For those employees where both married persons are in SPFE, enrollments should be completed in the Open Enrollment portal directly now through November 17.

Those who are currently enrolled as a married couple with one employee in the Medica group, and one in the PEIP group, or both employees in the Medica group should reach out to Benefits@spps.org no later than November 15^th if they need to make corrections to their enrollments for 2024.

Employees should keep in mind the following:

• One person in the married couple may still carry the spouse and/or dependents.
• Coverage cannot be provided for both Spouse 1 and Spouse 2 on Medica and PEIP. (For example, Spouse 1 enrolls in Single + 1 or Family Coverage under PEIP, after Spouse 2 has enrolled them in Single + 1 or Family Coverage under Medica.)
• Neither spouse may carry additional life insurance for the other spouse. Each spouse, if desiring to select additional life insurance, can only cover themselves.
• Dependent life insurance must only be carried by one spouse. 

What Happens if I Do Nothing?

Coverage must be elected or waived each year, in order to have benefits. If you do nothing, you will default to no benefit coverage, or to a core coverage, as determined by your bargaining group. You can review what core coverage you may have by viewing the document here. Any enrollments already completed under the Medica Open Enrollment period will remain as-is for 2024, unless you contact benefits@spps.org to make a change prior to 11/15/2023.