4/18/2011: I just got an email from PEBB:
*CORRECTION*
You received the below email with invalid links to the websites. Please use the links below. We apologize for any inconvenience. …
But the links in the new email actually seem the same. I did successfully register using the procedure below. I don’t know what is going on with them.
4/16/2011: PEBB wants to verify that state employees are not claiming ineligible dependents on their health insurance. Reasonable enough. They expect this to save millions, and the consultant, Mercer, is only charging $231,000. So you’ve got until 4/21 to comply. What do you have to do?
Go to https://www.mercerdevs.com/PEBB to create an account. You will need your PEBB number. This is not the number at the top of the letter that says “Identification Number”. That number means nothing. The right number is P and 8 digits. This is also *not* the number on your PEBB health plan card that you show your doctor. Your PEBB number was on the letter PEBB sent you in 2006 – you saved that, right? No? Then go to http://duckweb.uoregon.edu. They will send you to https://pebb.benefits.oregon.gov/members/ to get the PEBB number. You created an account at this website in 2006, right? You remember your login info for that site, right? If not you are screwed, wait until Monday and call.
If yes, login. Surely you can just verify your dependents here, right? No, you can’t. Go to update your personal info. Get your PEBB number. Then go back to https://www.mercerdevs.com/PEBB. Where does it say “create a login”? It doesn’t. Go to “need a password?” instead. Enter the 8 digit number – but not the P – the programmer was too lazy to write a conditional to delete the P, do it yourself. Enter the captcha. Now you can create yet another account. The web developers already have all sorts of interesting personal information on you. Hope they don’t leave a thumb drive in some bar.
Now answer some simple but annoying questions. It’s 2011 – your spouse still has to be opposite sex? And you thought this was a free country! But this is not the time to argue. Anyway, there is no verification – this is all just make work for some consultant. Go all the way through to the end. Don’t stop when it says your dependent has been accepted. They have not been accepted. You have to keep hitting continue until you get to the point where you enter another secret code. Then you get a receipt accepting your dependent(s). Print it. Remember your account name and password for next time, or alternatively look into this article from websafetyadvice.com looking into some of the best password managers, so you’re able to keep your accounts uniquely secure without forgetting each password.
Are you doing this for your spouse/domestic partner/spouse in CA but not OR who is also on PEBB? Just because you have verified they are your spouse(etc.) does not mean that they have verified you are theirs. Fascinating – you both have to say I do, like a wedding. Repeat above – but when you create another account don’t use the same username.
You are not done. You also have a letter from Providence. They want you to update your SSN’s. This letter sends you to another website – http://providence.org/php/SSN. You login with the username and password in the letter. Then you will need another ID number. This is the one from your blue insurance ID card. And your group ID number. Then enter everyone’s SSN’s. Enter the dashes – their programmer didn’t want to bother to write a loop to parse the entry form – make the clients do that. Want to fill this out for your PEBB partner? You need their letter and secret codes too.
My advice, do this Monday, when you can call for help. PEBB’s number is 503-373-110. Mercer’s is 1-866-614-1114. 9-5 only.
This email – send by PEBB late last night – might also be helpful:
You currently cover one or more dependents (child, spouse or domestic partner) through your PEBB benefits. This means you are required to complete Step 1 of PEBB’s 2011 Dependent Eligibility Verification program. Step 1 closes Thursday, April 21.
In March, the Mercer benefit group sent you a letter with instructions for DEV Step 1. Log in to complete Step 1 here: https://www.mercerdevs.com/PEBB/selfver/login.aspx. This Step allows you to
1) Confirm eligibility of dependents
2) Remove dependents who are not eligible
3) Check “disagree” if the results indicate a dependent is ineligible and you believe the dependent is eligibleStep 2 of the DEV program will require a subset of members (including those who checked “disagree”) to provide documentation of the relationship that establishes dependent eligibility for coverage.
If you have questions about the process, call Mercer at 1-866-614-1114, Monday – Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Pacific Time. If you need to find your PEBB Benefit Number for the log-in process
1) Look on the benefit summary you printed when you enrolled in October
2) If you have ODS dental, look on your ID card
3) Log in to your benefit record at https://pebb.benefits.oregon.gov, select “Update my personal information,” and look under “ID”
4) Call PEBB at 503-373-1102Thank you for your participation in this program to ensure dependents covered in PEBB are eligible for coverage. If you have questions about this Board action, please see http://www.oregon.gov/DAS/PEBB/news/QADependentEligibilityVerification2011.shtml.
*CORRECTION*
You received the below email with invalid links to the websites. Please use the links below. We apologize for any inconvenience.
You currently cover one or more dependents (child, spouse or domestic partner) through your PEBB benefits. This means you are required to complete Step 1 of PEBB’s 2011 Dependent Eligibility Verification program. Step 1 closes Thursday, April 21.
In March, the Mercer benefit group sent you a letter with instructions for DEV Step 1. Log in to complete Step 1 here: https://www.mercerdevs.com/PEBB/selfver/login.aspx. https://www.mercerdevs.com/PEBB/selfver/login.aspx This Step allows you to
1) Confirm eligibility of dependents
2) Remove dependents who are not eligible
3) Check “disagree” if the results indicate a dependent is ineligible and you believe the dependent is eligible
Step 2 of the DEV program will require a subset of members (including those who checked “disagree”) to provide documentation of the relationship that establishes dependent eligibility for coverage.
If you have questions about the process, call Mercer at 1-866-614-1114, Monday – Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Pacific Time. If you need to find your PEBB Benefit Number for the log-in process
1) Look on the benefit summary you printed when you enrolled in October
2) If you have ODS dental, look on your ID card
3) Log in to your benefit record at https://pebb.benefits.oregon.gov, https://pebb.benefits.oregon.gov select “Update my personal information,” and look under “ID”
4) Call PEBB at 503-373-1102
Thank you for your participation in this program to ensure dependents covered in PEBB are eligible for coverage. If you have questions about this Board action, please see http://www.oregon.gov/DAS/PEBB/news/QADependentEligibilityVerification2011.shtml. http://www.oregon.gov/DAS/PEBB/news/QADependentEligibilityVerification2011.shtml
The Cheshire Cat wonders about who is helping whom with a process that might challenge even an economist or a rocket scientist. Fortunately, this Cat kept his/her PEBB ID info.
I am neither an economist nor a rocket scientist, but I can follow directions. The process was not all that difficult IF you followed the directions. The hardest part was finding the required ID# on the ODS card since it wasn’t clear this was where you actually had to look. One quick call solved that problem and the rest of the update process was easy. Don’t read more into a simple process.
This is just awesome and you can tell how well prepared Mercer and Providence were for all of this. Going to the Providence site I get a warning that their SSL is not registered correctly, keeping me from continuing on to the site. Why does the UO continue to swim in the pool of incompetent contractors? A freshman computer science student could have done a better job…..