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 In This Issue
February 26, 2026
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 Benefits
Stay on track with the transition to the new My Insurance Benefits platform. Use the graphic below to follow progress, monitor upcoming milestone dates, and prepare for go-live events. DOA will go live in the system on May 1, 2026; UWHC and local employers will go live on July 1, 2026.
How My Insurance Benefits Uses Salary Information for 2026 Coverage for Life and ICI
Local & Non-STAR Employers | All Insurance Benefits
Salary information for 2026 coverage and premiums will be populated in My Insurance Benefits from various sources.
Local Employers
- Life Insurance:
- Employees who are currently enrolled in the life insurance program will have their 2026 salary information populated from Securian census data. Eligible employees who are not currently enrolled in the life program will have their 2026 salary information populated based on their 2025 WRS annual earnings.
- Income Continuation Insurance (ICI):
- All eligible employees, regardless of whether currently enrolled in the ICI program, will have their 2026 salary information populated based on their 2025 WRS annual earnings.
Employers will have an opportunity to update 2025 employee life and/or ICI earnings, if needed. An example would be an employee with less than one full year of WRS service for whom estimated annual WRS earnings should be used instead. Employers will need to enter these salary updates in the ETA user interface by the end of the day on May 21, 2026.
Non-STAR employers*
- Life Insurance:
- Employees who are currently enrolled will have salary information loaded from the Securian conversion data. If an employee is eligible but not enrolled, ETF will take the employer provided salaries via ETA during conversion.
- Income Continuation Insurance (ICI):
- Employers provide salary information directly in the ETA system for all eligible employees, whether or not they are currently enrolled. This approach ensures salary information is available for both current and future enrollments and helps ensure benefit calculations are accurate when My Insurance Benefits goes live.
*For Non-STAR employers having any issues accessing the ETA user interface, please reach out to ETF’s project manager, Francine Thompson.
Employer Resolution Deadline for January 1 Effective Dates
Local Employers | All Benefits
ETF enforces a firm October 1 deadline for receiving employer resolutions to be effective January 1 of the following year. Resolutions received after October 1 will not be accepted for January 1 coverage. This means that ETF must receive all resolutions to add, change, or withdraw from health, life, ICI, supplemental dental and vision, and accident insurance by October 1, 2026, for a January 1, 2027 effective date.
My Insurance Benefits Employer Training
All Employers | All Insurance Benefits
As ETF prepares for the upcoming launch of My Insurance Benefits, we are committed to supporting our employers. This includes tailored training courses specifically designed for employers in their role as HR Administrators:
- University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics (UWHC)
- Employers who offer health, life, and supplemental insurance
- Employers who offer life or supplemental insurance
Watch for training invitations in March.
Other Resource Links
All Employers | All Insurance Benefits
Frequent Questions
All Employers | All Insurance Benefits
Q: Will the new platform eliminate the use of insurance carriers for life insurance, ICI, supplemental vision, and other benefits?
A: No, ETF will continue to work with insurance carriers to provide insurance benefits. My Insurance Benefits is the tool that employers and members use to view and interact with (enroll, change, decline, etc.) those benefits.
All Employers | All Insurance Benefits
- A feature of My Insurance Benefits is that it automatically removes dependents from insurance coverage when they turn age 26.
ETF will continue to provide more detail on the above, communicate additional changes, and ensure you are prepared for the transition.
Local Employers: If you need support related to My Insurance Benefits, please contact ETF’s employer liaisons at ETFSMBIASEmployerSetupQuestions@etf.wi.gov.
State Employers: If you need support related to My Insurance Benefits, please contact the IAS Project Manager with whom you currently work.
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