Changing Your Coverage

Changes in Status

You may change the level of your elections during the year if you have any of the following changes in status:
Change in marital status
Termination or commencement of employment by you, your spouse or dependent
Certain changes in work schedule (applies to Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account only)
Change in dependent’s eligibility (dependent satisfies or ceases to satisfy eligibility requirements)
Change in residence or worksite of you, your spouse or dependent
New dependent through birth or adoption
To change your coverage, you must log into Workday and click on the Benefits worklet, and then click on “Benefits” again under “Change.” Be sure to complete your change request within 31 days of your change in status. You must provide documentation (for example, a birth certificate) that supports the change in status. The change you request must be consistent with the change in status you experience. Your change will not go into effect until the required documentation has been received and the change has been approved.
An eligible newborn child is covered under the medical plan during the first 31 days of life. However, if you do not add the child to your coverage during the first 31 days following birth, the child’s coverage will not take effect, and you will have to wait until the next annual enrollment to add your child to coverage (unless you have a change in status, described in this section, that allows you to enroll earlier). To add your newborn, complete your change request through Workday within 31 days of birth.
If you are enrolled for dependent life insurance (and covering other eligible dependents) at the time of your child’s birth, your child is automatically covered under this plan (subject to plan eligibility and benefit). Otherwise, if you want to elect dependent life insurance to cover your newborn child, you will need to complete your change request through Workday and elect this coverage within 31 days of birth.
If you do not complete your change request within 31 days of the event, you must wait until the next annual enrollment period to make a change to your coverage. You may not change the health plan you are enrolled in during a calendar year due to a qualifying event.
The Summary of Allowable Status Changes table describes the changes in coverage you may make when you experience a change in status. Any change must be consistent with the change in status as interpreted in the tax laws.

Special Enrollment Rights

Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), you may be entitled to enroll in group health plans (medical, dental, vision and flexible spending account) offered by the company at times other than the annual enrollment period. If you decline DallasNews Corporation’s health coverage because you have other coverage and you later lose that coverage or gain a dependent, you or your dependent may have special enrollment rights. The enrollment must be consistent with the change you experience. You must enroll within 31 days of the event that caused your special enrollment rights or you will lose your special enrollment rights for that event.
If the event giving rise to your special enrollment right is a loss of coverage under Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), you may request enrollment under the DallasNews Corporation health plans within 60 days of the date you or your dependent(s) lose such coverage under Medicaid or CHIP. Similarly, if you or your dependent(s) become eligible for a state-granted premium subsidy toward the DallasNews Corporation health plans, you may request special enrollment within 60 days after the date Medicaid or CHIP determine that you or the dependent(s) qualify for the subsidy.
You are entitled to enroll in a group health plan offered by DallasNews Corporation when:
Other coverage ends because you or your dependent is no longer eligible (for example, as a result of legal separation, divorce, death, termination of employment or reduction in number of hours of employment)
You or your dependent exhausts COBRA coverage under another employer’s plan
You gain a dependent (for example, you marry, have a new child by birth or adoption)
The employer sponsoring the plan in which you are enrolled stops making contributions toward the cost of coverage
A loss of HMO coverage occurs because the person no longer resides or works in the HMO service area and no other coverage option is available through the HMO plan sponsor
You or your dependent lose coverage under Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
You or your dependent become eligible for a state-granted premium subsidy toward the plan under Medicaid or CHIP
Even if you are not then covered by any group health plan offered by DallasNews Corporation, you, your spouse and new dependent child may enroll because of your marriage or the birth or adoption of your child. However, you must request special enrollment within the applicable time period following the event, as described above. In the case of any dependents who lose other coverage, they must have been and remain eligible under the DallasNews Corporation group health plans at the time of the last annual enrollment. Losing eligibility or exhausting COBRA coverage does not include failing to pay premiums on a timely basis or having your other coverage terminated for cause.
To request special enrollment or obtain more information, please contact DallasNews Corporation Benefits at 1-877-235-6242.

Summary of Allowable Status Changes

The following table lists the changes you are allowed to make due to qualified changes in status and indicates whether the event would potentially give you special enrollment rights or allow you to make changes to current elections. Any change must be consistent with the change in status as interpreted in the tax laws.

Description of Change
Special
Enrollment
Rights
Medical,
Dental and
Vision
Health
Care
FSA
Dependent
Care FSA
Life
Insurance
Plans
You marry
You gain a dependent
Your spouse or dependent loses eligibility under the DallasNews Corporation plans
You or your dependent dies or you divorce or become legally separated
You move to a new home address which is outside your current plan’s service area
You become eligible for benefits as a:
New hire
Rehire
Change from part-time to full-time status
Your spouse’s coverage or cost through his or her employer changes significantly
Your spouse loses eligibility at his/her employer
Your spouse gains coverage through his/her employer
You, your spouse or dependent lose other health plan coverage
You or your spouse change work shifts
You or your dependent lose Medicaid or CHIP coverage
You or your dependent become eligible for a premium subsidy under Medicaid or CHIP

Complete your change request or special enrollment within 31 days of the change in status (within 60 days if the event is loss of coverage under or new eligibility for premium subsidy under Medicaid or CHIP). The new coverage for birth, adoption or Qualified Medical Child Support Order (QMCSO) is effective on the date of the event. For marriage, coverage is effective on the first day of the following month. If you do not submit your change request or special enrollment within 31 days of the change, you may not change your benefit elections until the next annual enrollment (unless you have a change in status, described in Changing Your Coverage, that allows you to enroll earlier).
Note: For dropping a dependent, the change is effective the end of the month in which the qualifying event occurs. If a dependent becomes ineligible and you do not submit a change request within the 31 days, the dependent will still be considered ineligible for benefits.

Mid-Year Enrollment and Re-Enrollment

If you wish to enroll at some time after you first become eligible or after you have dropped coverage, you may do so during the next annual enrollment. Coverage will take effect on January 1 of the following year if you complete the enrollment form, you do not have an allowable status change and provide proof of good health, if applicable. If you are not actively at work when you enroll, your basic, supplemental and dependent life insurance, AD&D insurance and long-term disability coverage would not take effect until you return to work and can perform the regular duties of your job for one full day. If you have an allowable status change that permits you to enroll in the coverage you want, you may enroll in such coverage after annual enrollment, provided you make a change in your coverage elections within 31 days of your status change event (60 days for Medicaid or CHIP eligibility).

Changing Supplemental Coverages

Supplemental and Dependent Life Insurance

Because the company provides basic life insurance and you pay for your supplemental life insurance and dependent life insurance coverage on an after-tax basis, plan provisions and not IRS rules dictate changes. Requests to increase or elect coverage for the first time must be submitted with 31 days of a change in status or during the annual enrollment period. Requests to decrease or drop coverage can be submitted in writing at any time and will be processed according to payroll and carrier deadlines.
Proof of good health will be required if:
You decline supplemental and/or dependent life insurance at initial eligibility and later wish to add it.
You increase the amount of your supplemental or dependent life insurance coverage.
You elect more than $750,000 individually for basic life and supplemental life.
You have any subsequent increase in your life insurance coverage, if the increase exceeds the guaranteed issue amount (including an increase in coverage resulting from a salary increase).