Effective July 1, the rates listed in the chart below show a decrease of 10 percent.

Life Insurance Coverage and Rates
You may buy supplemental and dependent life insurance in increments of $10,000, starting at a minimum of $10,000. The maximum coverage you can buy for yourself is $500,000 and for your spouse is $30,000. (Spouse coverage in excess of $10,000 requires that your spouse provide evidence of good health.) You also have the option of purchasing $5,000 coverage for each of your eligible dependent children at one rate of 72 cents, regardless of the number of children, per month.

The monthly cost of supplemental life insurance for yourself and your spouse is based on age, amount of coverage you select and whether or not you and/or your spouse use tobacco products. Please refer to the rate chart below.

If you are purchasing supplemental life for the first time, you may buy up to one times your basic annual earnings or $100,000, whichever is less, without evidence of good health. You may apply for up to six times your basic annual earnings or $500,000, whichever is less, with acceptable evidence of good health.

If you already have supplemental life insurance, you may increase your coverage by one times your annual base pay in increments of $10,000 during this enrollment period without providing evidence of good health.

If you are adding coverage for the first time for a spouse or child, or if you are changing your beneficiary, you must get a Prudential application (Supplemental Life Insurance Enrollment and Beneficiary Designation Form) from your agency or from the Benefits Administration Web site (Forms). Coverage becomes effective the month after the first payroll deduction is made from your paycheck. (Look for the deduction with the code “BP1” on your pay stub.)

Using the Rate Chart
Here’s an example of how to determine the cost of insurance coverage. Nancy is 38 years old and a nonsmoker. She decides to buy an additional $40,000 in coverage for herself and $20,000 for her spouse, Kevin, who is 40 years old and a smoker.

The cost of Nancy’s supplemental coverage is $.82 per $10,000, for a monthly cost of $3.28
(4 x $.82 = $3.28). The monthly cost for her husband’s coverage is $1.76 per $10,000, or $3.52 (2 x $1.76 = $3.52). She also can buy $5,000 coverage for her children at a total monthly cost of 72 cents.

Portability
Your supplemental life insurance coverage is portable which means if you leave state
employment, you can keepyour insurance with you at the same low group rate, which is less than the cost of a conversion policy.

The portability feature is only available for your coverage and does not apply to spouse or dependent coverage. Contact Prudential to apply.

These rates for health care coverage will be effective from July 1, 2006, through June 30, 2007. The change in your payroll deduction will show up in your first paycheck in June 2006.

Remember: Participants who elect coverage under one of the three self-insured plans (Ohio Med, Aetna, UnitedHealthcare) will not have a payroll deduction for one month during fall 2006.

Important Numbers and Web Sites to Know

For questions about benefit plan coverage, please contact the providers at these phone numbers or Web sites.