Here are questions Administrators who are new to Maxwell Health, or using a tool within Maxwell for the first time, often have. We’re here to help!
See questions below for the following categories:
What setup should I expect for annual open enrollment?
Your Account Manager will work with your Advisor to set up your annual open enrollment. Your Advisor will provide information upon implementation, including specifications of your company’s benefits and benefits strategy. This includes the annual open enrollment start and end dates for each product, the effective dates of each product, as well as the different groups of employees, and their eligible products.
As your annual open enrollment period approaches, we work with your Advisor on finalizing the plan details. Once those details are finalized, you can work with your Advisor on setting up the OE in Maxwell. Read about annual open enrollment in Maxwell.
My employee doesn’t see products available for shopping—what can I do?
If an employee doesn’t have benefits available to them for shopping, it’s probably either because they a) they are not eligible for benefits, or b) because the employee is outside of the event’s shopping period. Check to see if the employee is eligible for benefits by clicking See Eligible Benefits on their “Benefits” tab in their employee profile. Extend the shopping period for an annual open enrollment by following these steps. Extend the shopping period for a new hire or life event right on the event banner in the employee's employee’s profile. You’ll want to make sure you don’t extend it too close to the effective date of the benefits, as you’ll need some time to process them with the carriers before they can be used.
Click here to extend shopping while the employee is in a new hire or life event
I approved and ended the event (open enrollment, life event, or new hire) but I realized afterward that my employee didn't enroll in benefits. How can I reopen the event for them?
It's best practice to make sure that the employee completed everything they need to do before you approve and end the event, but we understand that can be difficult to tell sometimes! If this happens, you can make a correction and invite the employee to shop for benefits again. You should keep in mind that this employee will no longer be part of the original event they were in. This means that they will not appear on the Enrollment Progress Dashboard, and may be considered to be a late entrant in the system if they're enrolling in a voluntary benefit. If you have forms set up to auto-send, those may not send properly and you may need to send them manually.
I’ve added a new hire, and their products are showing an “Ineligible” status—what can I do?
It sounds like you have a renewal coming up, and the effective date of this new hire (based on your company’s new hire waiting period) is after their products’ end date. Check with your Advisor on how to best correct the products for this employee.
How do I make sure all my employees have completed their open enrollment elections?
Check your Dashboard which displays your employees’ enrollment progress.
How can I see which employees still need to complete their enrollment?
Check your Dashboard which displays your employees’ enrollment progress. Click through the Not Started and In Progress circles on the Dashboard to see the employees who still need to complete their elections. You can also send an email to these employees directly from the Dashboard to remind them to complete their elections. Keep in mind that if you're running a passive enrollment or have auto-enrolled benefits, it's OK for employees to show in the "Not Started" or "In Progress" circles.
When I add a new hire, make changes, or terminate an employee, how does this information get to the carrier?
Employees and their hiring, elections, changes, and terminations are only automatically sent to the carrier if you have an EDI connection setup between them and Maxwell Health. If you don't have an EDI connection for that particular carrier, you’ll need to communicate these changes to them outside of Maxwell (i.e. downloading and sending electronic enrollment forms or reports out of Maxwell, or using the carrier’s enrollment website).
What does the “EDI” label on the product mean? What is EDI?
If the “EDI” label appears next to a product on the employee’s Eligible Products or Enrolled Products tabs, it’s because the product has an established Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) connection with the product’s carrier. Maxwell Health will securely and automatically provide employee enrollment information to that carrier. Therefore, you don't need to send enrollment data or notify this carrier of changes using forms, reports, websites, or the phone. Learn more about EDI connections in Maxwell.
My employees are eligible for benefits on the first of the month after 60 days. Should I be adding new hires to Maxwell on their date of hire?
Feel confident entering your new hire into Maxwell on the day of their date of hire, even if they have a long waiting period. Your Advisor establishes the new hire waiting period at implementation, and Maxwell will automatically set the event’s shopping period and the benefits’ effective dates according to that waiting period. If you’d like to modify the shopping period to be different than what’s set automatically by the system, you can do that by going to the employee’s profile clicking Actions > Extend Shopping Period.
I need to change the effective date for an eligible benefit for a new hire or life event before my employee goes shopping for it. How do I do this?
For life events, the effective date for the eligible benefits will always default to the date that the event occurred. For new hires, it will default based on the new hire waiting period you have in the system. You can edit the effective date before (or during the time period) the employee shops for benefits by clicking into the event details and changing the date that the new benefits should be effective.
I need to change the effective date for an existing enrollment. What should I do?
If you need to change the effective date for an existing enrollment, you can do that by making a correction.
What if an employee hasn’t received their newborn’s SSN at the time they’re adding them as a dependent to Maxwell?
If SSN is set as required, employees can still add a child dependent who is 6 months or younger without an SSN, however, they will need to add the SSN in Maxwell once they receive it.
What if an employee hasn’t received their newborn’s SSN within 30 days of the "Birth or Adoption of a Child" change event? Will I still be able to enter this missing information after the 30 day period?
You or the employee may enter the newborn’s SSN into Maxwell even when the employee’s change event enrollment period has closed or 30 days have passed. As an Administrator, you can edit an employee’s profile at any time and make changes to their demographic information and their dependent’s demographic information. However, this just applies to information kept in Maxwell. If the information you add or change in Maxwell will affect the employee’s benefits, you may want to contact the carrier and let them know of the change. Typically, carriers need this information no later than 30 days from when the event took place.
My employee has recently had a divorce or a death in the family, how do I remove an employee’s spouse or child from their profile?
While your employee will not see the option to delete dependents in Maxwell, as an Administrator you have the ability to either set the status of the dependent to hidden or delete a dependent from an employee’s profile view.
Hiding a Dependent
If an employee requests to no longer see a dependent on their profile, we recommend you use the “hide dependent” option. This allows you to remove the dependent from the employee’s view, but still keeps a copy of their record in Maxwell. This may be helpful for recording keeping, reports, or for things like ACA reporting.
To hide a dependent, simply navigate to the employee’s profile where you edit the dependent’s information and click the “hide dependent” toggle.
Deleting a Dependent
If you are trying to delete the dependent’s record completely from the employee’s profile, after removing the dependent from benefits, you will see the option to delete. Remember, if you delete, you will have no record of the dependent or their coverage in Maxwell.
Please note: You cannot hide or delete a dependent who is currently enrolled in a benefit. Please remove them from coverage to enable the delete or hide option. See the steps to remove a dependent from coverage here >>
I terminated an employee by mistake. What do I do?
Don’t worry, it’s possible to fix! If an employee has been terminated in Maxwell by mistake, whether that is due to the employee changing their mind about leaving the company, or an administrative error that needs to be corrected, you have the option to Reinstate the Employee. Follow the steps to reinstate a terminated employee here >>
Can employees make changes to their demographic information?
Yes, an employee can make changes to their demographic information. However, any changes an employee makes will require Administrator approval, unless they are in an event (such as an open enrollment, new hire, or life event) and haven’t submitted their enrollment yet.
How do I know when my employees take actions?
Set up notifications so that you can be informed when employees take action in Maxwell, including when an employee: requests your help through Maxwell; makes a change; or confirms their benefits. Read more about notifications in Maxwell, including how to view, edit, and delete them.
I need to change an employee from part-time to full-time. How do I do that? And now that they’re eligible for benefits, how do I make those benefits available for shopping?
Follow the steps listed in this article.
I’ve received a notification from the system in my email inbox, where do I view it in Maxwell?
When an employee, fellow Administrator, or the system takes an action triggering a notification, you’ll receive an email with the subject “Maxwell Health - New HR Administrator Notification from [Employer Name]” and a link that will take you to log into Maxwell. You’ll then see the notifications on your Dashboard. Read more about notifications.
I want to create a custom email template. How do I create a template so that it automatically fills employee fields, like the employee’s first name?
Adding a personal touch to your custom email templates is a great idea! Pull employer/employee-specific information (e.g. employee first name, employer name, open enrollment end date) into your custom email template by using the appropriate naming convention. For example, for employee first name, you would enter “{{user.nameFirst}}". See a list of naming conventions for email templates.
Can I upload my own forms?
Because our forms are encoded by the Maxwell team so they can pull employee information from Maxwell automatically, we ask that if you have any additional forms to upload beyond those provided at implementation or renewal, you send them to support@maxwellhealth.com. They'll get them uploaded for you.
Can I upload my own documents?
Go for it! Follow these instructions to upload documents.
I use the BambooHR integration. How does a new hire first receive their benefit information when they are synced over into Maxwell?
If your portal has a BambooHR integration, your new hires will automatically sync over from BambooHR into Maxwell. When the employee syncs over, the new hire date will automatically be pre-populated based on the Date of Hire entered for that employee in your BambooHR portal. The waiting period, shopping dates, and the effective date will also be automatically calculated based on the Date of Hire, and all products will open accordingly for the new hire to make their elections.
Now, all you need to do is click Send from your dashboard notifications to send a welcome email to the employee notifying them to review and enroll in their benefits.
For more information, read how to add a new hire in BambooHR.
How can Maxwell help me handle ACA employer mandate requirements?
Access existing employee demographic and benefits information in Maxwell to use to fill out the necessary IRS forms (1094 and 1095) yourself, or securely send to a third party to complete on your behalf. We have partnerships with two top compliance services for which you’ll receive preferred pricing as a Maxwell client. These compliance partners are experts in the field, and will complete and file your forms with the IRS, as well as facilitate sending written statements to employees. Read more about the ACA tool.
Can my employees shop for benefits in the mobile app?
Yes! Employees who download the Maxwell mobile app are able to shop for their benefits during an enrollment period as well as access their benefit details all throughout the year and request updates if they have a qualifying life event.
We currently support Android and iOS. Download the app by searching “Maxwell Health Mobile” in the iOS App Store or Android’s Google Play Store or clicking on the links below:
Once downloaded, employees will use the same email and password they used to log into Maxwell on the web. If you’d like a more thorough guide to using the mobile app, check out our Mobile App Step-By-Step Guide.
I’m currently listed as the help contact in Maxwell. How can I change that?
Change the help contact that displays to your employees by clicking Settings > Administrators and selecting a new Main Contact. The Main Contact can be any Administrator or Advisor who has access to this employer. For more detailed instructions, watch this slideshow on changing the help contact.
My employee is looking for guidance. Any materials I can provide to them?
You bet! Send your employee to our online Employee Help Center, which includes FAQs and tutorials! You can also send them PDF versions of our shopping guide and mobile app guide. If they still need some help, they can contact us directly at support@maxwellhealth.com or (866) 629-7445.
What’s the difference between a Master Administrator and a Standard Administrator? Do I need both?
Administrators must be designated as either Master or Standard because it affects the level of permissions that an individual has to view and make changes in Maxwell. Read about the specific differences between Master and Standard Administrators. You don’t need to set up both Master and Standard Administrators. Just one or multiple Master Administrators will do just fine!
Does Maxwell support imputed income or differential taxation of spouse versus domestic partner?
Taxation treatment such as imputed income and differential taxation is not supported in Maxwell today due to the extraordinarily complex provisions around taxation of domestic partner benefits. These provisions can vary greatly depending on same versus opposite sex, federal versus state, as well as what the vendor has decided is allowable for the specific plan. As a result, Maxwell Health does not serve as the system of record for taxes. In our experience, the payroll administrator drives taxation treatment, most often via deduction codes, and is best suited to handle this for the employer.
We do surface the following disclaimer when an employee adds a domestic partner to their coverage in the Maxwell shopping experience: