My Benefits Employer News October 30, 2026

Wisconsin Department of Employee Trust Funds sent this bulletin at 10/30/2026 03:45 PM CDT

Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page.

In This Issue

October 30, 2026

Introduction
Open Enrollment 2027 Wrap Up and Office Hours Through December
Future State Processes & Guidance
Access Standard & Interactive Reporting Guides Anytime
Support

Introduction

^{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.

Open Enrollment 2027 Wrap Up and Office Hours Through December

^{All Employers | Open Enrollment}

The 2027 open enrollment period ends October 30, 2026 for members. Many employers use the next two weeks to finalize enrollments, reviewing participation in open enrollment for the 2027 plan year and following up with members if needed. The deadline for HR Administrators to make corrections is Friday, November 13 at 11:59 p.m.

ETF is aware that some members may delay logging in to make their selections until the final day of open enrollment and may encounter access issues using MyWisconsin ID to access ETF’s My Benefits Member Portal for the first time. Remember, My Insurance Benefits includes “Late Open Enrollment” as a change reason members can easily access in November and December.

Please reference the following support materials to assist you:

My Insurance Benefits Resources: This page is designed to support HR administrators in assisting employees with My Insurance Benefits, including the Employer Checklist for Open Enrollment.
Employer Group Health Insurance Page: Access ongoing program administration guides, policy updates, and operational resources for the 2027 plan year.
Employer Insurance Administration System Procedures (ET-1111): This reference tool includes Chapter 9: Open Enrollment Procedures, with topics such as late open enrollments.

Please note:
Several procedures reference the Benefit Detail Report, and ETF is aware of an issue in the Standard and Interactive Reporting. Under the Benefit Period data column in reports, both the 2026 and 2027 benefits appear as “Current.” Please refer to the “Participation Period” column to distinguish between plan years.

Weekly Employer Office Hours: Tuesdays through December 22
To help you navigate system questions, ETF will host weekly drop-in Q&A sessions for HR Administrators:

When: Every Tuesday, 1:00-2:00 p.m. (through December 22, 2026)

Format: Drop-in Microsoft Teams Q&A

How to Join: Log on via this Teams link during the scheduled hour—no formal presentation, just direct access to ETF staff to get your questions answered. Thank you for your dedication and effort in guiding your employees through this year's open enrollment period.

Future State Processes & Guidance

Securian Invoice Adjustments Expected December

^{All Employers | Invoices/Data Entry}

ETF is working with Securian on a number of initiatives to clean up any remaining data issues from the July 1, 2026 conversion to My Insurance Benefits related to accident and life insurance coverage. ETF expects the majority of corrections to appear on the December Securian invoice. Impacted employers will be contacted with specific information, as applicable.

Employers are encouraged to pay the Securian invoices as billed, and reconcile adjustments in on the December 2026 invoice. Remember, there are no late fees for payments to Securian.

If you have questions about Securian’s life and accident invoices or where to send a Securian payment, contact Securian at 833-810-8260.

Ensuring Accurate Benefit End Dates During Member Terminations

^{All Employers | Member Terminations}

Employers play an important role in ensuring employee benefits end on the correct date. Follow these tips to avoid coverage discrepancies with My Insurance Benefits and the Employer Transaction Application (ETA).

What You Need to Know
If an Employer Transaction Application (ETA) transaction includes both an Employment Change/Category Value Change and a Termination Date, My Insurance Benefits will calculate benefit end dates using the Employment Change Effective Date rather than the Termination Date.

If no Employment Change Effective Date is entered along with a category change, the ETA defaults the effective date for the category change to the current date, which can then cause My Insurance Benefits to calculate the wrong coverage end date.

Best Practice Recommendation
To ensure benefit end dates are accurately processed in My Insurance Benefits:

Keep terminations separate: Avoid making eligibility or employment category changes on the same ETA transaction as a termination.

Follow the two-day rule: If you need to update a member’s record and terminate their account, please:
1. Day 1: Enter and submit the necessary employment/category changes in the ETA.
2. Day 2: Submit the termination transaction in the ETA. This two-step process applies to all terminations, including sensitive situations such as the death of an employee.

Complete insurance terminations as soon as possible: Timeliness helps ensure accurate records and remember that WRS terminations need to be processed via a separate transaction in the WRS Account Update or Transaction Upload application.

This guidance has also been updated in the Employer Insurance Administration System (IAS) Procedures (ET-1111) manual for your reference.

Access Standard & Interactive Reporting Guides Anytime

^{All Employers | Reporting}

Two comprehensive user guides are available for employers managing benefits administration to help you navigate reporting within My Insurance Benefits. Depending on your agency’s operational needs, you can choose between two distinct reporting tools:

Standard Reports Guide: For quick, routine data needs, offering over 40 predefined report templates. Data generated reflects a true snapshot as of the date the report is run and can be downloaded into Excel/CSV spreadsheets for offline recordkeeping.

Interactive Reports Guide: For more flexible analysis, these dashboards leverage Power BI to give you flexible, point-in-time data visibility without needing upfront query parameters. You can customize views on-screen, manipulate interactive widgets, filter by specific benefit categories, and export data for further analysis.

Resource Links

Bookmark these pages!

The Employer Resources Page – Tools for HR Administrators and Members, and the new Employer Toolkits for employer use with members, including promotional materials you can use to promote 24/7 access to My Insurance Benefits.

On-Demand Employer Video Training – A comprehensive on-demand video, created specifically for employer administrators new to both the Employer Transaction Application (ETA) and My Insurance Benefits.

The Employee Resources Page – Help your employees with job aids, forms, and other helpful items.

The My Benefits Employer News Index - Catalogs all My Benefits articles by topic.

Release Notes – Recent updates, enhancements, and fixes made to My Insurance Benefits, the Employer Transaction Applications, and other tools you will use with the new insurance administration system.

Support

^{Local Employers | All Insurance Benefits}

Support	Contact
Employer Online Access	Please see Update Online Access for:  Adding a new user  Deleting an existing user  Changing access for an existing, active user Updating or changing a user’s name or contact information ETFSMBEmployerSecurityAccess@etf.wi.gov
General ETF Insurance Coverage Questions (Employer Insurance Unit – EIU)	ETFSMBEmployerInsurance@etf.wi.gov
Member Access Issues	MyWisconsin ID through the Department of Enterprise Technology via DET MyWisconsin ID or 608-471-6667 ETF’s ID Team if there are issues after MyWisconsin ID is created ETFSMBIDHelp@etf.wi.gov

The information in this publication represents the state of the Insurance Administration System Program at the time of this writing. This is an active program; therefore information is subject to change according to ongoing discovery and testing.

Questions?
Contact Us

Subscriber Services:
Manage Preferences | Help