MyTRS—Retiree Insurance update

This update covers the following topics:

As announced in late April, we have restored employer access to the Retiree Insurance functions within MyTRS. Employers can add or make changes to individual retiree insurance selections and to premium rates for the insurance plans you offer.

We have frequent reports that, following a rate update, the wrong price displays in the price information listed on individual retirees. We are looking into this issue, but it will not affect actual deduction amounts.

Deductions are based on the value in the rate table on the Insurance Rates screen, not on what is displayed for an individual retiree. The deductions will be correct if the premiums on the Insurance Rates screen are correct for each plan.

In April, the MTRS mailed printed copies of the Retiree Insurance in MyTRS training guides to applicable districts. Please let us know if you did not receive one or need one.

The Retiree Insurance in MyTRS guide and new videos are available online. Each short video demonstrates a specific process for adding/changing coverage and rate changes.

Please follow the guide and watch these videos as you familiarize yourself with the new system and functions.

Employers have access to the Edit Rates and Add Rates buttons on the Insurance Rates in MyTRS, allowing employers to add new rows to update plan prices for July 1st coverage.

Please note that when adding a price for a new period, it is CRITICAL to ADD a row when adding a plan cost. DO NOT OVERWRITE the price or dates of an existing row; doing this will cause the system to retroactively change existing plan costs, resulting in the refund of an entire year’s deductions. Be sure to add individual rows for each plan code—and save each time you add a row—to ensure changes are processed correctly.

Please DO NOT enter a stop date when adding new rows. If you do, when the rate changes, you will need to manually add the coverage back to each individual retiree on that plan.

If you encounter an error referencing an incorrect start or stop date, please click cancel and email us at insuranceupdates@trb.state.ma.us so we can research your historical plan rates.

If you need to enter a rate holiday, add only the discount rows for the holiday period prior to the retiree payroll processing period.

The day after the retiree payroll processing (June 22), add your rows to restore the full price for the period after the holiday.

Entering both rows at once can lead to processing and rate errors.

The MTRS can now add most new medical plans to employers but not in other coverage categories. We are correcting the ability to add all new medical and other types of plans, and we hope to have an update by late July.

The GASB45 report and Monthly Insurance Deduction Report by Provider have been repaired and are available to download.

The GASB report excludes members and survivors who receive benefits from an employer other than the employer from which they retired. We’re working to resolve this issue.

We have restored access to the Add/Change Coverage button on Retiree Insurance Selections, so employers can add, change or cancel coverage for retirees as needed directly in MyTRS.

Now that employers have access, please do not send these changes to insuranceupdates@trb.state.ma.us.

If you need to completely delete a retiree’s coverage that was entered in error, the MTRS needs to process that request for you at this time. Please email these requests to insuranceupdates@trb.state.ma.us.

If you have any questions, please send them to insuranceupdates@trb.state.ma.us.