Medical, Prescription Drugs, Dental, and Vision Plans

Review and compare your spouse's benefits with your own so that you can coordinate coverage to your best advantage. If already enrolded in CMU's benefit plans, you may decide to cancel your CMU coverage and be picked up by your spouse's insurance. Be sure to check if your spouse's employer requires you to maintain your own insurance at CMU. Name change will be done electronically once you have changed it with the university.

You can also change your coverage from an individual to a two-person or a family plan. If your spouse has an employer that pays any portion of the cost, he or she is required to be covered by his or her employ's plan. This rule does not apply to regular faculty members.

Life Insurance & Disability Plans

You need to review who you have named as your life insurance beneficiary(ies). You may want to change your life insurance beneficiary(ies) at this time. You can make these changes at any time throughout the year.

Other changes you may need to make:

Add spouse and/or dependents to benefits

Change beneficiary(ies) for Life and Retirement Plans (Fidelity, TIAA-Cref)

Change address with CMU and its carriers (MESSA, BCBS, etc)

Add Spousal Life Insurance (If applicable)

Make adjustments to your Flexible Spending Account(s)

Name Change: need to fill out CMU name change form and show a copy of a new social security car before CMU can change your name.

Flexible Spending Accounts

Consider whether to participate in the Flexible Spending Accounts, or if participating, decide whether you need to change or stop your contributions. You may want to increase or decrease your Health Care Account contribution to pay you spoused's uncovered health and dental expenses with tax-free dollars. If you are gaining a dependent, because your spouse has a dependent child or a dependent elderly family member you may want to begin a Dependent Day Care Account to pay for day care or other allowed expenses.

Retirement and Tax Deferred Investment (TDI) Plans

Update the beneficiary(ies) you have listed under these plans. You may want to review your investment elections and contribution amount under the Tax Deferred Investment Plan to make sure they are consistent with any agreements you have made with you new partner about sharing financial responsibilities. Name change needs to be done with the carrier.

Be Sure to Make Changes with the Benefits Office at 774-3661 within 30 days of your marriage.

**Read: Guide for Qualifying Status Change Events before filing a status change forms.

This summary is not designed to serve as your reference for the details of these benefits. There is a Summary Plan Description for each benefits plan, which is available from the Benefits Office and which contains more complete information about the plan, including important details about limitations on benefits and your legal rights. The actual provisions of each benefit plan will govern if there is any inconsistency between this summary and Central Michigan University's formal plans or contracts. This summary does not constitute a contract for any benefit.