SHBP Enrollment Support: What Georgia Districts Can Add on Top of the State Plan
SHBP enrollment support is the service layer a district builds around the State Health Benefit Plan, not a change to the Plan itself. The State sets every Plan Option, every rate, and every deadline. What a district controls is whether its people understand those choices and act on them before the window closes.
Does a benefits consultant manage the State Health Benefit Plan?
No. SHBP is a Division of the Georgia Department of Community Health, and it administers coverage for state employees, teachers, public school employees, retirees, and their dependents. The Board of Community Health sets member premiums by resolution. No outside partner changes a Plan Option, a rate, or an eligibility rule.
That line matters, because districts get pitched plenty of things that sound like Plan control and aren’t. For the 2027 Plan Year, SHBP continues to offer Gold, Silver, and Bronze Health Reimbursement Arrangement options through Anthem, Statewide HMO options through Anthem and UnitedHealthcare, a High Deductible Health Plan through UnitedHealthcare, and the Kaiser Permanente Regional HMO, which is limited to 31 counties in the Metro Atlanta Service Area. Express Scripts becomes the pharmacy benefits manager for most Plan Options effective January 1, 2027. None of that is negotiable at the district level. All of it has to be explained at the district level.
A Medical Claims Administrator is the carrier that processes claims for the Plan Option a member selects. For 2027 that’s Anthem, UnitedHealthcare, or Kaiser Permanente. It isn’t the Plan sponsor, which is the State.
What does the district actually own during Open Enrollment?
Communication and follow-through. SHBP holds employers responsible for making sure employees receive Open Enrollment materials each year. Elections are made in the SHBP Enrollment Portal, by phone with Member Services, or through the ADP Mobile Solutions app. The district’s job is making sure every employee knows that, and acts.
Open Enrollment for the 2027 Plan Year runs from Monday, October 19, 2026 at midnight ET through Friday, November 6, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. ET. Doing nothing is a decision. A member who makes no election stays in their current Plan Option and tier with their current Medical Claims Administrator for all of 2027, and a Tobacco Surcharge paid in 2026 carries forward with them.
In a district, the people most likely to default by accident are the ones least likely to open an email. Bus drivers, custodians, nutrition staff, and paraprofessionals often work across several sites without a district address. Reaching them takes phone, text, and someone standing at a table in the bus barn.
Where do districts lose people during enrollment?
At the edges, not the middle. New hires must make their election directly with SHBP within 31 days of their hire date, and enrolling through the employer does not satisfy that requirement. Qualifying Events carry a 31 day window, or 90 days for a birth or adoption.
A Qualifying Event is a life change, such as marriage, divorce, birth, or a spouse’s loss of other coverage, that lets a member change coverage outside Open Enrollment. It has to be declared in the SHBP Enrollment Portal on or after the day it happens, never in advance.
The deadlines stack. Newly added dependents sit in pending status until documentation confirming eligibility is submitted within 45 days of the declared event. Every member also has to supply a Taxpayer Identification Number for themselves and each enrolled dependent, and failure to do so results in loss of coverage with no refund issued.
New hire coverage starts the first of the month following one full calendar month of employment, so a teacher hired October 15, 2026 is covered December 1, 2026. Miss the 31 day election window and the next opportunity is the following Open Enrollment, absent a Qualifying Event. These are the calls that reach an HR Director in week three, usually from someone who is already upset.
What sits outside SHBP that a district does control?
Everything that isn’t medical. SHBP doesn’t provide Flexible Benefits such as dental and vision. Those run through the employer or through the Flexible Benefits Program administered by the Department of Administrative Services. Ancillary and voluntary lines, employee education, and the service model around all of it are district decisions.
Retirement coordination is another gap employees fall into every year. The Teachers Retirement System of Georgia does not administer SHBP. TRS deducts premiums for eligible benefit recipients, but health insurance questions go to SHBP. More quietly, beneficiary changes made during open enrollment are not reflected in a TRS account and have to be updated directly with TRS. TRS also adds service credit for members who have at least 60 days of unused sick leave at retirement, which is worth saying out loud to a 30 year veteran deciding whether to take a day.
For an Assistant Superintendent for HR, this is a total compensation question rather than an administrative one. Every district in the region offers the same state health Plan, so the Plan itself can’t set a district apart when a candidate is weighing two offers. The benefits that sit beside it, and the service wrapped around all of it, can.
What does good SHBP enrollment support look like in practice?
Every channel covered and every deadline tracked. Phone, email, text, and onsite support, so employees without a district address still get reached. A named contact, so routine questions never reach the HR office. Plain language on wellness incentives, tobacco surcharge removal, and dependent verification.
Left unexplained, real money goes unclaimed. For 2027, members and covered spouses enrolled in Anthem and UnitedHealthcare options can each earn 480 well-being points, redeemable for a $150 Visa prepaid card or 480 incentive credits toward medical and pharmacy expenses. UnitedHealthcare members and covered spouses can each earn an additional $250 reward card. Kaiser Permanente members and covered spouses each earn a $500 reward card for completing five activities, up to $1,000 per household. Every action has to be completed between January 1 and November 30, 2027.
That’s the work we do for Georgia districts. We don’t touch the State’s Plan, because nobody outside the Board of Community Health can. We make sure your staff understands it, meets every deadline, and claims what they’re already entitled to, and we handle the benefits that sit beside it. If your district is heading into this window short-handed, we’d like to talk. Be There for Everyone.
FAQ
Does Totem administer the State Health Benefit Plan for school districts?
No. SHBP is administered by the Georgia Department of Community Health, which sets all Plan Options and premiums. Totem supports enrollment, navigation, and the ancillary and voluntary benefits a district offers alongside the state Plan.
When is SHBP Open Enrollment for the 2027 Plan Year?
It runs from Monday, October 19, 2026 at midnight ET through Friday, November 6, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. ET. Members elect through the SHBP Enrollment Portal, by phone with Member Services, or in the ADP Mobile Solutions app.
What happens if a district employee makes no election?
They keep their current Plan Option, tier, and Medical Claims Administrator for the 2027 Plan Year. A Tobacco Surcharge paid in 2026 continues to apply. Defaulting is a valid outcome, but it should be a choice rather than an accident.
Do new hires enroll through the district?
No. New hires must make their election directly with SHBP within 31 days of their hire date. Making the election with the employer does not satisfy the requirement, and missing the window means waiting for the next Open Enrollment absent a Qualifying Event.
