The University of Tennessee participates in the state of Tennessee group health insurance plan. On Dec. 4, 2020, the State Insurance Committee governing the plan approved a medical premium holiday for June 2021. As a result of this decision, the medical portion of your group insurance premium will not be deducted from the first biweekly payroll on May 18 and the May monthly payroll (meaning, you will not be required to pay the May premium for that month). This will not affect your insurance coverage. The premium holiday is for the health insurance (BCBST & Cigna) premiums only and will not include voluntary benefits. Premiums for dental, vision, voluntary life and disability will still be collected for June.
The premium holiday is similar to a dividend. Each year, the health care claims paid out for the plan are reviewed, and throughout the past year, insurance claims in the state plan have been lower than expected. Since the state/higher education plan is self-insured, a premium holiday allows us to give back to our employees with some of the surplus money to reflect the plan’s experience last year.
This one-month holiday still allows sufficient reserves needed to operate the state health insurance plan going forward.