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Benefits - United States 🇺🇸

Your local benefits packages provide you with benefits tailored to your country. 

Coverage highlights

  • Unlimited outpatient (appointments, exams and drugs, and inpatient care)

  • Maternity, dental, and vision
  • Mental care (psychologist and psychiatrist) 
  • Preventative care and immunizations at no charge
  • Employee Assistance Program
  • Life, accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D)
  • Long- and short-term disability
  • Pension (401k)
  • Voluntary Benefits (no employer contribution)

Benefits providers

Oyster works with top local insurance providers in the United States who understand the market and offer reliable services.

  • Health Insurance: Aetna and Kaiser
  • Other Insurances: Guardian
  • Pension: Slavik
  • Voluntary Benefits: Guardian, HealthEquity and MetLife

Plan selection

Considering the local context in the US, a one-fit-for-all solution would not offer a good experience for our team members, as hardly a single plan would be able to offer consistent coverage across the country.

Also, due to the high cost of health insurance, you might opt to enroll in plans that are more aligned with your healthcare budget. While your company will define how much will be the employer contribution towards your monthly premium, you will be able to choose from 7 different health insurance plans and four different dental schemes.

You can find more details on the available plans and how much they will cost you in each of the tiers in the links at the end of this page. 

 

Pension

All team members employed by Oyster are enrolled on a mandatory 401k pension fund (managed by Slavik) effective at their date of hire, with a 3% company contribution. This will be contributed regardless of whether you will contribute to your retirement account. 

All contributions are fully vested as they are contributed, and there is no minimum age required to be eligible. You will be able to select either a Traditional or Roth 401k. Under a traditional account, retirement investment funds are only taxed at the time of withdrawal. Roth accounts are taxed at the time the contribution is made and are withdrawn tax-free. 

You can find more details on the Oyster pension offering on the brochure at the end of this page.

 

Voluntary Benefits

At the time of your enrollment, you can opt-in to the below additional voluntary benefits. The cost of such additional coverages is fully paid by you. 

 

Voluntary Life

Like basic life insurance, voluntary life insurance provides financial assistance for your beneficiaries to cover funeral costs, and ongoing financial obligations, such as daily living expenses, your children’s education, and future mortgage payments.

 

Accident Insurance

Accident insurance, also known as personal or supplementary accident insurance, is available to help you cover the costs of accidental injuries. This plan will help cover medical expenses that include fractures, dislocations, and lacerations. Plan coverage ranges from non-occupational coverage and full coverage to minimal coverage. Additional accident insurance benefits may include a wellness option for the insured, as well as the insured’s family members.

 

Critical Illness

Also known as catastrophic illness insurance, critical illness insurance will help protect you from exorbitant costs associated with life-threatening illnesses, like heart attack, stroke, renal failure, loss of vision, speech or hearing, cancer, or other medical emergencies. Critical illness plans allow participants to allocate as much money as they need, and pay for costs not related to the illness directly, including childcare, household bills, diagnostic testing, deductibles, or transportation.

 

Hospital Indemnity

Hospital indemnity insurance is a complement to medical coverage plans aimed to lessen the financial burden of medical costs. Hospital indemnity insurance helps you to cover the costs of hospitalizations, including hospital confinement, hospital admission, hospital intensive care, and intermediate intensive care step-down unit. Hospital indemnity insurance can range in coverage from low and mid-point plans to full (high) coverage plans.

A lump sum payment is provided that the insured can use to cover hospital admission, hospital stay costs, rehabilitation, or additional expenses.

 

Voluntary Commuter Benefits

You can enroll in voluntary commuter benefits for metro cards, gas expenses, or toll fees, and enjoy the payroll (FICA) tax savings of 7.65%.

 

Flexible Spending Account (FSA)

A flexible spending account (FSA) is a type of savings account that allows you to contribute a portion of your pre-tax earnings. With those funds, he can cover a wide variety of qualified medical expenses for himself and his dependents. Those expenses include but are not limited to, deductibles, copays, and prescribed medication.

 

Dependents Flexible Spending Account (dependent FSA)

This account works just like the Flexible Spending Account (FSA), but the funds can be utilized for eligible expenses related to dependents such as daycare, after-school activities, and elderly care.

 

Pet Insurance

You can purchase insurance for your pet dogs and cats with up to 90% reimbursement for eligible expenses.

 

For more details on the coverages and prices, please refer to the links at the end of this page.

 

Dependents

You can include dependents (spouse and children) in your plans only in the 30-day enrollment window. Late enrollments will only be allowed due to a Qualifying Life Event (i.e., birth, adoption, marriage) or in the next open enrollment period.

 

Taxation

These prices are inclusive of local and country-specific Insurance Premium Taxes (IPTs). There are no employee taxes applicable to those benefits.

 

Open Enrollment

The benefits provided by Oyster are renewed on a yearly basis. Hence, price readjustments and coverage changes should be expected every year. Such changes, if any, always happen during the open enrollment period, which happens at the end of each year.

During this period, all the concerned parties are made aware of the changes, and you will be able to change your benefits and add dependents for the next year.

All changes will come into effect on the first day of the next year.

 

FAQs

 

Enrollment

 

When can I enroll? What information must I provide?

During your onboarding, you will receive an e-mail from our broker, Vensure, requesting you to elect your benefits and add dependents.

 

Can I add my dependents to the plans?

Yes, you will be able to add your spouse and dependents at the time of your onboarding.

 

How can I view my insurance enrollment status?

After you finalize your enrollment process in the Vensure platform, you will receive a confirmation mail informing you of the start date of your elected benefits.

 

When will my insurance coverage be active?

Your insurance will be active from the first day of the subsequent month of your joining date. For example, if you joined Oyster on May 10th, your benefits will be active from June 1st.

 

What will happen if I want to enroll at a later date?

You will only be able to enroll yourself or your dependents after the onboarding in two scenarios:

  • At the open enrollment period at the end of the year.
  • In case of a life-qualifying event such as the birth of a child, marriage, or loss of coverage through a spouse. In this case, you will have to reach out to Vensure (our broker) up to 30 days after the fact to initiate the enrollment formalities.

For more details, please check the Qualifying Life Event guide at the end of this page and reach out to our broker, Vensure, at benefits@vensure.com

 

How can I opt out?

You can opt-out by selecting this option in the enrollment process with Vensure.

 

Can I extend my insurance if I leave Oyster?

Following the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA), employees who previously elected coverage after they are terminated can remain covered under their existing health plan for up to 36 months. During this period, the premium must be fully paid by the employee.  In case you wish to do so, please reach out to Vensure through benefits@vensure.com or by calling 800.409.8958.

 

 

Coverage

 

Do the carriers have a provider network? Can I pursue care outside of this network?

All carriers have provider networks that have more favorable out-of-pocket conditions. For Kaiser plans (which are exclusive for California residents), there are some limitations to out-of-network care. You can find more details on the brochures at the end of this page.

 

Where will I be covered by Aetna and Kaiser?

Aetna plans have countrywide coverage, while Kaiser plans coverage is limited to the state of California.

 

Are there any waiting periods applicable?

No, there are no waiting periods applicable to the plans offered by Oyster.

 

Is there an insurance card?

Yes. You will be mailed the card up to 30 days after the joining date. Yet, in case you require medical attention before, you will be able to claim any eligible expense from the day of your coverage start date.

 

Does the life insurance cover death abroad?

Death abroad is covered under the same conditions as an in-country event. However, repatriation expenses are not included in the coverage.

 

Are there any copays and deductibles applicable?

Yes. However, the values will vary according to the plan.

 

Where can I find more details on my coverage?

You can find more details related to reimbursements, network, and procedures covered on the links at the end of this page. 

 

Taxation

Are there any taxes applicable to my Benefits?

No. There are no employee taxes applicable to the benefits offered by Oyster in the United States.

 

Dependents

How do I add a dependent? Can I add them at any time?

You will be able to enroll yourself or your dependents during your onboarding process through the Vensure platform.

After that, you will only be able to enroll them at the open enrollment period at the end of the year or in case of Life qualifying events such as the birth of a child or marriage. In those cases, you will have to reach out to Vensure (our broker) up to 30 days after the fact to initiate the enrollment formalities.

 

Which dependents can I add to my plan?

You can add your spouse/partner and children. Other relatives, such as parents, brothers, and grandparents, are not eligible.

 

Voluntary Benefits



Can my employer cover the costs of my voluntary benefits just like for the other benefits? 

No, there is no employer contribution for voluntary benefits, including contributions towards FSAs.


What are the contribution limits for the Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs)?

Currently, the limit towards FSA is $3,050. For dependent FSA the limit is $5,000 per household or $2.500 for married individuals filing taxes separately.


What will happen to unspent funds in my FSA?

Funds deposited in FSAs are not returnable. This means if they are not spent by the end of the year you won't be able to recover them. Hence, we recommend that you plan ahead to make sure that your whole balance is spent.
However, you will have a 2.5-month grace period after the year's end to spend any values left in the account.

 

Can my spouse contribute to my FSA account?

Healthcare FSAs can only be contributed to by an individual. There is no family contribution option. Both you and your spouse can each have your own FSA through your respective employers and both contribute the maximum amount to each account.

 

Emergencies

 

What are my emergency contacts? What should I do in such cases?

We recommend you call 911 or go to the nearest hospital. Emergency claims should be covered directly by the carrier for in-network facilities and should be claimed in case you pursue care in out-of-network hospitals.

 

Support

 

When do I contact Oyster Support or the Benefit Vendor directly?

In case of questions related to your benefits, you must connect with our broker (Vensure) through benefits@vensure.com (general benefits queries), employeesupport@vensure.com (access and lo-gin related demands)  or by calling 800.409.8958

If they fail to respond in time (2 working days) or you believe that the response was not satisfactory, reach out to Oyster Support.


Coverage Documentation (2024)


The below documentation refers to the conditions that take effect on January 2024. Apart from increases in the health insurance premium, the remaining conditions (coverage and prices) will be the same. You can find details on the 2023 benefits in the documentation at the end of this section.

 

Tiers

Health

Dental

Vision

Life and Disability

Pension

 

Voluntary Benefits

 

Qualifying Life Events Guide

 

2023 Benefits Overview

 

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