My Insurance Benefits: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

To access My Benefits – the main portal from which you'll access My Insurance Benefits – you'll need a MyWisconsin ID. If you don't already have a MyWisconsin ID, please check out this video from ETF for a step-by-step guide on how to access My Benefits and set up a MyWisconsin ID.

• Please note: ETF highly recommends using your personal email address for MyWisconsin ID to ensure you can still access your information if you leave City employment and lose access to City email.

For troubleshooting assistance, ETF's My Benefits Help page is your best resource! The page includes troubleshooting help for MyWisconsin ID, Multi-factor Authentication (MFA), password resets, locked accounts, and more.

Yes! See below for details.

• ETF offers a My Insurance Benefits Member Experience course. This self-guided course provides an in-depth video overview of the new system, including walkthroughs for Profile updates, Basic Navigation, New Hire Enrollment, Dependent Verification, and Qualifying Life Events.*
• ETF has an in-depth Member Guide (ET-1109) for My Insurance Benefits. The Benefits team has also created City-specific guides, which are available on the Changing Health Coverage page.

*Please note:

• In the course, the example ETF provides shows a person whose employer participates in all benefit options through ETF, including dental, vision, HSA, etc.; the City of Madison only participates in health insurance, which means the only benefit you will see in My Insurance Benefits is health insurance.
• In the course, health insurance premiums are broken down into employee/employer contributions. This is not a feature included for local employers like the City of Madison – for City employees, health insurance premiums display as the full cost of coverage (without the City's employer contribution).
• A few small features have been updated in the portal since ETF made the course, so your member portal will not look exactly like the one in the example. However, all of the main features are still the same and are located in the same places.

My Insurance Benefits only displays insurance benefits administered via the Department of Employee Trust Funds (ETF) – and the only insurance benefit that City employees have through ETF is our health insurance. Because of this, the only benefit that eligible City employees will be able to see (and change) via My Insurance Benefits is health insurance. 

For more information about how to submit change(s) to benefits other than health insurance, check out the Changes to Employee Information page!

The only benefit you're enrolled in through ETF (besides WRS) is health insurance. You're seeing “four active benefits" because the My Insurance Benefits portal shows the full cost of health insurance coverage, and breaks that cost down into four parts: medical, pharmacy, the Well Wisconsin program, and ETF's administrative fee. This is part of an effort from ETF to provide greater transparency on the true cost of coverage.

If you are enrolled in City health insurance coverage, we encourage you to make sure you're taking advantage of the Well Wisconsin program's benefits! This includes the opportunity to earn a $150 wellness incentive each year.

As of July 1, 2026, you need to submit any health insurance changes using the My Insurance Benefits portal. Barring a reasonable accommodation, it is no longer possible to submit changes with a paper health form.

ETF has also shifted to month-of billing for health insurance premiums, starting with July's premium(s). Previously, health insurance premiums were deducted on the first paycheck of the month for the following month's coverage.

The new system displays the full monthly cost of health insurance, rather than just the employee share of the monthly premium. Don't worry – the cost hasn't changed, and the City will still be paying the employer contribution. See the "Premiums in My Insurance Benefits" section of the FAQ for details.

Finally, highlights of the new member portal include:

• My Insurance Benefits is designed to be user-friendly for members.
• The member portal is adaptive to mobile devices, to allow ease of access from computers and smartphones alike.
• Health insurance changes will now be submitted online via My Insurance Benefits, including Open Enrollment changes, changes due to qualifying events like marriage/birth/adoption, and more.
• You will complete document verification for health insurance changes by uploading documents to the portal – so no more coming to HR for in-person verification!

Check out the Changing Health Coverage page for detailed information about how to change health coverage!

Please note:

• Deadlines apply to all midyear qualifying events – and most qualifying events have a 30 calendar day deadline. We recommend you take action as soon as possible following a qualifying event to ensure you are able to submit any desired changes before the deadline for that event.
• At this time, midyear changes to benefits other than health insurance coverage (e.g. dental, vision, life, Flex Spending, etc.) require paper forms submitted to HR. Contact the Benefits team at benefits@cityofmadison.com if you require assistance!

A qualifying event is an occasion in your life that lets you change applicable benefit(s) midyear, outside of the annual Open Enrollment period. Please note that not all changes can be made with all qualifying events, and that some qualifying events (like divorce) require you to make changes ASAP.

Please contact the Benefits team at (608) 266-4615 or benefits@cityofmadison.com if any of the following are true for you:

• You are unsure whether you have experienced a qualifying event
• You do not know which qualifying event to select from the dropdown options in the My Insurance Benefits portal
• You have questions about whether a specific change can be made for a specific qualifying event

If you will be changing other benefits (besides health insurance) with your qualifying event, check out the Changes to Employee Information page for more details on how to do so!

Common qualifying events include:

• Marriage
• The birth of a child
• The adoption (or placement for adoption) of a child
• The start of a permanent legal guardianship for a child under the age of 19
• Divorce
• Involuntary loss of other coverage (for example, due to spouse job loss, turning 26 and aging out of eligibility for coverage on a parent's plan, loss of eligibility for BadgerCare coverage, etc.)
• Qualifying for other coverage (for example, due to a spouse or child starting a new job, the birth of a child, a new marriage, etc.)

While documentation is not required for Open Enrollment changes, documentation is required for all midyear qualifying event changes, including new hire enrollments.

If you have experienced a qualifying event, any change(s) to your health insurance cannot be finalized until you provide documentation via the My Insurance Benefits Document Center – so the sooner you can submit your change and upload your documentation, the better.

Qualifying events typically have strict 30 calendar day deadlines, measured from the event date (e.g. marriage date, loss of coverage date, etc.).

The only exception to this is adding a child to health insurance coverage with birth, adoption, or placement for adoption as a midyear qualifying event, which has a 60 calendar day deadline instead. However, please note that all other health insurance changes – including changing health plans due to birth/adoption – have 30 calendar day deadlines.

Child(ren), stepchild(ren), and permanent legal ward(s) are eligible for coverage on your health insurance until the end of the month in which they turn 26. An adult child over age 26 with a qualifying disability that began prior to age 26 may also be eligible for coverage.

If you have questions about eligibility, please contact the Benefits team at (608) 266-4615 or benefits@cityofmadison.com.

Because ETF requires that mailing address updates come from an administrator, you can't update your own address via My Insurance Benefits, unfortunately. However, the Benefits team can help you update your address on file in My Insurance Benefits.

First, check in the Employee Self Service (ESS) portal to make sure your address on file with the City is accurate. If it isn't, use these instructions from the ESS resource menu to submit your updated address in ESS.

Once you've confirmed your address in ESS is up-to-date, please email the Benefits team at benefits@cityofmadison.com from an email address on file for you with a written request to update your mailing address on file. Once we've confirmed your address from MUNIS, we can submit an update in My Insurance Benefits for you.

• Please note: ESS will be inaccessible from July 9 to July 13 while the City's MUNIS Payroll system is transitioned to the cloud.

Not sure what email address(es) are on file for you?

If you have a City email address, that's definitely on file. Otherwise, check under Personal Information in ESS! Any personal email address(es) on file with the City will be listed there. This is also where you can update your email(s) on file if you'd like to do so.

In order to update anyone's first and/or last name on file in My Insurance Benefits, that person must first legally change their name with the Social Security Administration (SSA).

With that said, there is also a preferred name feature in My Insurance Benefits. You can access this for yourself via Profile --> Profile, and for your dependent(s) via Profile --> Your Dependents.

If you add a preferred name for yourself, this will update the name that appears on your home/welcome screen for My Insurance Benefits. You do not need to have had a legal name change to set a preferred name in the system.

For legal name changes, please see below!

• For employees' names: Once you have updated your name on file with the SSA, you will need to submit new tax forms to your Agency Payroll Clerk for entry in MUNIS as a Name Change Personnel Action (PA). Once you can see your new name in the Employee Self Service (ESS) portal, please contact the Benefits team at benefits@cityofmadison.com and the Benefits team will update your name on file in My Insurance Benefits. You should also check out Changes to Employee Information for more details about updating your name for other applicable benefit(s).
• For dependents' names: You can update your dependents' information, including their names, via Profile --> Your Dependents. You should also check out Changes to Employee Information for more details about updating your dependents' name(s) for other applicable benefit(s).

Don't worry – your premium hasn't changed. There are a couple of factors that impact the way premiums are displayed in My Insurance Benefits:

• The My Insurance Benefits portal shows the full cost of health insurance coverage and breaks that cost down into four parts: medical, pharmacy, the Well Wisconsin program, and ETF's administrative fee. This is part of an effort from ETF to provide greater transparency on the true cost of coverage. While some parts of the portal display the total cost (all four components added together), other parts of the portal only display the cost of the medical component, specifically.
• Due to 1) the four-part breakdown outlined above and 2) how our employer premium contribution(s) are structured, it is not possible for My Insurance Benefits to display employee/employer premium contribution split(s) for City employees.

Because of these factors, we recommend you ignore the health insurance premiums displayed in My Insurance Benefits. Instead, please review health insurance premiums with the employer contribution included via the Health Insurance Premiums dropdown under Health Insurance on the Health, Dental, and Vision Insurance page.

No – these are a part of coverage via ETF's Group Health Insurance Program (GHIP). If you are enrolled in health insurance through ETF, you are also automatically and mandatorily enrolled in pharmacy coverage and the Well Wisconsin program, and must also pay ETF's administrative fee. These enrollments continue until/unless health insurance coverage is cancelled.

The cost of pharmacy coverage, Well Wisconsin, and administration has always been included in health insurance premiums, but have not been displayed separately before My Insurance Benefits. This is part of an effort from ETF to provide greater transparency on the true cost of health coverage.

If you are enrolled in City health insurance coverage, we encourage you to make sure you're taking advantage of the Well Wisconsin program's benefits! This includes the opportunity to earn a $150 wellness incentive each year.

Almost all employees who are eligible for City health insurance qualify for an employer contribution to the total cost of the health insurance premium.

• Detailed premium information for permanent employees – including the split between employee and employer premium contributions for the most commonly selected health plans – is outlined in the Health Insurance Premiums dropdown of the Health, Dental, and Vision Insurance page.
• Detailed information about health insurance eligibility for hourly and seasonal employees is outlined on the Hourly & Seasonal Employees page.