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 June 18, 2025
In This Issue
All Employers | All Insurance Benefits
Welcome to My Benefits Employer News, a newsletter to keep you informed about ETF’s new insurance administration system. Save time by only reading the articles relevant to you—the first line of each article identifies which employers and benefits the article applies to. View previous issues.
All Employers | All Insurance Benefits
Please review the following information to ensure you are aware of the impacts of the timeline shift that ETF has identified for all employers except the Universities of Wisconsin (UWs).
- All employers, except the UWs, will continue using current processes for insurance benefits offered by ETF.
- My Insurance Benefits will not support COBRA until the 2026 launch. You will need to continue your current COBRA processes until then.
- All local and non-STAR My Insurance Benefits training is postponed. The Department of Administration and UWHC can expect refresher training before the 2026 launch.
- Securian will launch their new payment application with the 2026 launch.
- Billing due dates will remain as they are today until the 2026 launch.
- Employers, other than the UWs, should continue to track updates to employee demographic and eligibility information, new employee hires, and employee terminations for future input into the Employer Transaction Application (ETA).
- Previously communicated electronic enrollment insurance freeze dates no longer apply.
Policy-Related Impacts
- Dependent eligibility verification will continue through attestation for all employers except the UWs until the 2026 launch. The UWs will use My Insurance Benefits to provide dependent eligibility documentation.
- The policy to align life insurance coverage and premium effective dates will be on hold for all employers until the 2026 go live.
- There will be a life insurance open enrollment for state employees after the 2026 launch.
Please see Frequent Questions below for more information on life insurance policy questions.
We will keep you informed as further information becomes available.
Data Exchange Dashboard
All Employers | All Insurance Benefits
The Data Exchange Dashboard provides visibility into the member-level data included on files produced by My Insurance Benefits for your carrier, payroll, and other vendor systems. The dashboard allows you to view which jobs processed during a given date range and see processed jobs detail.
 With the dashboard, you can:
- View a list of jobs processed during a specified date range.
- View a breakdown of the number of members sent (included on the file), skipped (found to not have applicable data), failed (violated a business rule), or held (waiting for criteria to be met) by a particular job.
- Access a list of the members processed by a job.
- Navigate to a member's profile or transaction history directly from the list to view more details, complete tasks, or make corrections.
- View the reason a transaction failed.
- Download a CSV file of members processed by a job.
Reminder: Employer Resolution Deadline for October 1 Effective Dates
Local Employers | All Benefits
July 1, 2025 is the deadline for employers to join, withdraw, or make changes to their insurance benefit offerings for October 1, 2025 coverage. Resolutions for health, life, and ICI insurance received between July 1, 2025 and October 1, 2025, will be targeted for a January 1, 2026, or earlier effective date, as relevant for that program. Employers wishing to join, withdraw, or make changes to their supplemental dental, vision, and accident insurance will continue with current processes.
Employer Resource—Insurance Administration System (IAS) Employer Procedures
All Employers | All Benefits
As the Universities of Wisconsin goes live with My Insurance Benefits on July 1, 2025, they will have access to an important resource to help them use the new system: IAS Employer Procedures!
This resource is a collection of procedures to guide employers step-by-step through various processes they will complete in their role of administering ETF’s insurance benefits. It will have more than 30 procedures at go-live.
Covered procedures include:
- Active Employee Death
- Birth and Changing Health Plans
- Dependent Verification for New Hires, Open Enrollment, and Qualified Life Events (QLEs)
- Divorce
- Late-Reported QLEs
ETF has written these procedures to supplement the ETF employer manuals and My Insurance Benefits guides in cases where the employer may need to work in more than one application, and in cases with complicated and/or new processes. The Employer Procedures are designed to guide the employer through their steps.
We will share the IAS Employer Procedures document with other employers closer to the 2026 go live.
XML File Upload Option Available for the Employer Transaction Application
All Employers | All Benefits
Large employers may be interested in submitting files for data changes to the Employer Transaction Application, rather than making individual employee entries in the user interface. If your organization has a developer experienced with creating XML files, this may be an option for you. The developer would need to be involved in the initial file setup. Once the file is confirmed, it can be used repeatedly to submit most updates to the Employer Transaction Application.
If this is something you are interested in pursuing, reach out to ETF’s employer liaisons at ETFSMBIASEmployerSetupQuestions@etf.wi.gov for a copy of the XML file requirements.
Frequent Questions
All Employers | Life Insurance Benefits
Q: Will life insurance change from billing one month in advance to current month billing in 2025?
A: No, not yet. Employers should continue all current state billing dates and processes until the 2026 go live. Securian's new payment system will now go live in conjunction with the 2026 My Insurance Benefits launch for all remaining employers.
Q: When will life insurance change from the current state of coverage starting the day the life insurance application is completed and premiums starting with the first of the month 30 days after hire?
A: The change to coverage and premiums both starting on the first of the month on or after enrollment will begin with the 2026 My Insurance Benefits launch for all employers.
Upcoming Communication to Active Employees
All Employers | All Insurance Benefits
The following article will appear on ETF’s website after the UWs My Insurance Benefits launch in July:
My Insurance Benefits Now Online for the UWs
Employees of the Universities of Wisconsin (UWs) can now manage their insurance benefits 24/7 with My Insurance Benefits.
My Insurance Benefits is a secure online application that provides employees access to their insurance information, such as health, dental, vision, accident, income continuation, and life insurance, as well as pre-tax savings accounts. Note: Long-term care insurance is not included in My Insurance Benefits.
The launch of My Insurance Benefits for the UWs, which is one of the largest employers under the Group Health Insurance Program, does not include employees of the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics (UWHC). All other state and local retirees and employees, including UWHC, will have access to My Insurance Benefits next year.
At launch, employees of the UWs may log in to view their insurance information and familiarize themselves with My Insurance Benefits. New hires and employees who wish to change their benefits due to a life event (like having a baby or being newly married or divorced) will complete new enrollments and make those changes online.
During the annual open enrollment period this fall, employees of the UWs will use My Insurance Benefits to make any desired changes to their health and other eligible insurance benefits. Other state and local employees and retirees will keep using the same process as before to make benefit changes.
My Insurance Benefits will be accessed through the My Benefits portal, which is part of ETF’s modernization effort to improve online self-service for members and employers. Several projects are in the pipeline for ongoing modernization.
Employees can watch for updates on My Insurance Benefits directly from your employer’s human resources office or benefits specialist, while retires may get the latest news from ETF.
Talking Points to Share with Your Staff
- You will see your ETF-administered insurance benefits in My Insurance Benefits in 2026.
- The Universities of Wisconsin launch will allow ETF to learn and improve the customer experience before the 2026 all-employer launch.
ETF will continue to provide more detail on the above, communicate additional changes, and ensure you are prepared for the transition.
Local Employers | All Insurance Benefits
If you need support related to My Insurance Benefits, please contact ETF’s employer liaisons at ETFSMBIASEmployerSetupQuestions@etf.wi.gov.
State Employers | All Insurance Benefits
If you need support related to My Insurance Benefits, please contact the IAS Project Manager with whom you currently work.
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