Penn Benefits Open Enrollment Starts April 29
Penn’s Benefits Open Enrollment is your annual opportunity to make changes to your health plans, life insurance, and flexible spending accounts. Open Enrollment will be held Monday, April 29-Friday, May 10, 2024. Before it begins, we encourage benefits-eligible faculty and staff, and postdoctoral researchers and fellows eligible for the Penn Postdoc Benefits Plan to take this time to learn about the upcoming 2024-2025 plan year.
Be sure to carefully review your Benefits Enrollment Guide for 2024-2025. Regular full-time faculty and staff and regular part-time and ACA-eligible faculty and staff can visit the Open Enrollment webpage to download their benefits enrollment guide. Postdocs can visit the Postdoctoral Researchers and Fellows webpage for a copy of their guide.
Faculty, staff, and postdocs can also gather information about the new plan year at the Open Enrollment Benefits Fair on April 30 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Gimbel Gym, Pottruck Health and Fitness Center. A benefits fair will also be held at New Bolton Center on May 1 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Alumni Hall.
If you are unable to make a benefits fair, you can review the 2024-2025 Open Enrollment Benefits presentation, benefit comparison charts, contribution charts, and more. This information will help you understand your benefit options so you can make informed decisions that are right for you and your family.
Time for a Change? Know Your Options
Open Enrollment is the ideal time for you to enroll in one of Penn’s benefits plans or consider changing elections if you need coverage that better meets the current needs of you and your family. Some of the changes you may need to make during Open Enrollment include:
- Enrolling in a healthcare plan for the first time or dropping an existing plan.
- Switching to a different medical, dental, or vision plan.
- Increasing or decreasing your life insurance coverage.
- Changing how much you contribute to a flexible spending account.
- Adding or dropping a dependent from your benefits coverage. If you add a new dependent, under Penn’s plan rules, you will need to verify your dependents eligibility in Workday by submitting the appropriate documents when you enroll.
You should also review your life insurance beneficiary information, confirm its accuracy for all elections, and update it if necessary. To make this update, log into Workday. You can also contact Health Advocate at answers@HealthAdvocate.comor call 1-866-799-2329, Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
What Happens If You Don’t Make Changes?
If you don’t make changes during Open Enrollment, your current elections will roll over when the new plan year starts on July 1, 2024.
What If You Waive Coverage?
Under the Affordable Care Act, if you waive your University coverage, you are still responsible for obtaining coverage through some other source. For example, you can obtain coverage through a spouse’s plan, your parent’s plan (if you are under age 26), or via the Health Insurance Marketplace.
When Are Changes Effective?
Whether you decide to make no changes to your current Penn benefits, or you choose different plan options, the elections you make during Open Enrollment will be effective on July 1, 2024, and stay in effect until June 30, 2025.
Making Changes After Enrollment
You cannot make changes to your healthcare benefits elections after the Open Enrollment period unless you experience aqualifying life event. Qualifying life events include the birth or adoption of a child, marriage, divorce or separation, death of a dependent, and change in your dependent’s eligibility for benefits.
Keep in mind that the IRS limits the types of changes you can make for qualifying life events. If you experience a qualifying life event, please contact Health Advocate atanswers@HealthAdvocate.comor call 1-866-799-2329, Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Looking Ahead to a New Plan Year on July 1, 2024
One of the most important steps faculty, staff, and postdocs take during the Open Enrollment period is getting familiar with the upcoming plan changes. There are several changes for the 2024-2025 plan year that will affect domestic partner eligibility for benefits, adoption benefits, health care flexible spending accounts, and medical and dental rates.
You should review all the plan changes before enrolling or making changes to your elections. Once you have determined the benefits that are right for you and your family, you can make changes to your benefits coverage 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in Workday. Changes can only be made during Open Enrollment, unless you have a qualifying life event.
You can review all of the 2024-2025 plan changes below. Faculty, staff, and postdoctoral researchers and fellows eligible for the Penn Postdoc Benefit Plan should also review their respective enrollment guides for details and plan options.
Domestic Partner Eligibility for Benefits
The University values diversity and is committed to providing benefits for staff, faculty, postdocs, and their families, whether traditional or non-traditional. Effective July 1, you can elect to enroll your domestic partner under Penn’s comprehensive benefit offerings. This applies for both same-sex and opposite-sex partners.
In order for your domestic partner to receive benefits coverage, you must complete the University Domestic Partnership affidavit and provide supporting documentation to the Benefits Office. You can download a copy of the affidavit by visiting the Verification Documents section of the Dependent Eligibility Verification webpage. More details on how to complete the process will be available soon. If you choose to access this benefit, you will have to pay federal, Social Security, and Medicare taxes on the value of the benefits extended to your partner and their children.
The domestic partner eligibility for benefits also extends to other Penn benefits including:
- Tuition Assistance.The tuition benefit for your domestic partner covers 50% of the tuition and technology fees for an undergraduate degree at Penn. For more information, visit the Tuition Benefit webpage.
- Wellness and Work-life Support.If covered under a Penn medical plan, your domestic partner can access nutrition counselingthrough RAMP Health. Domestic partners can also connect withMindWellfor emotional well-being resources for strength and care.
- Dependent Care.This support is provided through Penn’s backup careand snow day child careprograms.
Adoption Benefit Increases
Penn understands the new financial responsibilities that come along with expanding your family through adoption. To help offset some of the costs, the University is increasing its adoption benefit from $5,000 to $10,000 per child. Eligible faculty, staff, and postdocs may be reimbursed for up to $10,000 in qualified expenses. The benefit will be administered by Carrot Fertility.
Contribution and Rollover Amounts Increase for Health Care Flexible Spending Accounts
The maximum contribution you can make to your Health Care FSA is increasing from $3,050 to $3,200. The rollover amount will also increase from $610 to $640. You have until June 30, 2025 (end of the plan year) to incur expenses and until September 30, 2025, to submit eligible claims for services you received before June 30. Any remaining balance you have over $640 will be forfeited.
Aetna High Deductible Health Plan Raises Deductibles
The Aetna High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) with a Health Savings Account (HSA) will increase its deductible for individuals from $1,500 to $1,600 and for families from $3,000 to $3,200. All other medical plans – PennCare/Personal Choice PPO, Aetna Choice POS II, and Keystone/AmeriHealth HMO – will raise deductibles for individuals by $100.
Life Insurance Rates Increase
There will be an increase in life insurance rates per $1,000 for Supplemental Life Insurance and Dependent Life Insurance. For more information and to view the new rates, visit the Supplemental Life Insuranceand Dependent Life Insurance webpages.
Medical Plan and Dental Rates
Medical rates forPennCare/Personal Choice PPO, Aetna Choice POS II, Keystone/AmeriHealth HMO, and Aetna High Deductible Health Plan (spouse and dependent tiers), will have an increase in the upcoming plan year. There will also be a small increase for the Penn Family Dental Plan. Rates for the MetLife Preferred Dental Program and Vision plan will remain the same. For a complete list of new rates, check the Medical, Dental, and Vision rates for 2024-2025 chart in theBenefits Enrollment Guide.
If you have any questions about any of the upcoming plan changes, please contact Health Advocate at answers@HealthAdvocate.com or call 1-866-799-2329, Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
How to Enroll or Change Your Benefits Elections
During Open Enrollment, you can make changes to your health and life insurance benefits coverage 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in the new Benefits, Comp and Pay Hub via Workday@Penn.
To access the hub, click on “View All Apps” or “Menu” from your homepage, then select “Benefits, Comp and Pay Hub” from the Apps menu. Please remember to print a confirmation statement for your records. Read the Self-Service: Manage, View and Change Your Benefits Workday tip sheet for instructions.
While in Workday, you can also check out the Model My Pay feature. This tool can help you see how making hypothetical changes to your pre-tax and post-tax deductions and federal and state tax elections may impact your net, or take home, pay.Read the Self-Service: Model My Paytip sheet for step-by-step instructions as well as information on performing self-service changes to your actual pay. Model My Pay should be used for informational purposes only.
Update Your Beneficiary
While you’re logged into Workday, please review and update your life insurance beneficiary information in the Benefits, Comp and Pay Hub. To update your retirement plan beneficiaries, log in to your retirement planning account throughPenn’s TIAA.org SSO link.
Flexible Spending Accounts Updates and Reminders
Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) are tax-advantaged accounts that let you use pre-tax dollars to pay for eligible healthcare and dependent care expenses. Using FSAs can save money, however the amount of unused dollars that will roll over — or stay in your account from one plan year to the next — is limited. If you currently have an FSA or you plan to add one to your benefits for 2024-2025, carefully consider your contribution for the new plan year.
Health Care FSA
If you have a Health Care Flexible Spending Account (HCFSA), you will be able to roll over up to $610 of all unused funds from the 2023-2024 plan year to the 2024-2025 plan year. All unused funds over the $610 limit will be forfeited. The maximum amount you can contribute to the Health Care FSA is increasing from $3,050 to $3,200.
You must incur all expenses between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025. Claims must be submitted by September 30, 2025. All rollover funds will be available in November.
Dependent Care FSA
You must use all available funds by the end of the plan year deadline, or you will forfeit any remaining balance. You have until September 15 of the following plan year to incur expenses, and until September 30 of the following plan year to submit eligible claims.
For example, if you enroll in a Dependent Care FSA during the 2024-2025 plan year, you’ll have until September 15, 2025 to incur expenses and until September 30, 2025 to submit eligible expenses for reimbursem*nt.
Visit the Flexible Spending Accounts webpage for more FSA details and single-sign-on access to WageWorks/HealthEquity.
Resources for Choosing Benefits Coverage
Penn provides a variety of resources for faculty, staff, and postdoctoral researchers and fellows to learn about the available benefits programs, compare plans, and choose options that best meet your healthcare needs.
Below are details about each of the available resources. Before you enroll or make changes to your current elections, review these materials to help with your coverage decisions.
Benefits Presentation
Although the virtual and on-campus benefits presentations have ended, you can still get the information you need about the upcoming plan year changes, plan options, rates, and more by downloading the 2024-2025 Open Enrollment Benefits presentation.
Benefits Fairs
The Open Enrollment Benefits Fair will be held on Tuesday, April 30 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Gimbel Gym, Pottruck Health and Fitness Center. Penn HR staff, representatives from Penn’s healthcare providers, and wellness partners will be there to answer your questions.
A benefits fair will also be held at New Bolton Center on May 1, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Alumni Hall.
Benefits Enrollment Guides
The Benefits Enrollment Guide provides a summary of the benefits programs available to all benefits-eligible full-time faculty and staff, part-time and ACA benefits-eligible staff, and postdoctoral researchers and fellows eligible for the Penn Postdoc Benefits Plan. Click on the links below to download your Benefits Enrollment Guide:
Full-time Benefits Enrollment Guide
Postdoctoral Researchers and Fellows Benefits Enrollment Guide
If you have questions about Open Enrollment, contact Health Advocate at answers@HealthAdvocate.com or call 1-866-799-2329, Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Retirement Planning Is Always in Season
Eligible faculty and staff can review and change their Penn retirement savings plan elections during the Open Enrollment period, but also at any time of the year.
Update your plan beneficiaries, increase your contributions, revise your investment mix, or just check your elections when the time is right for you at TIAA.org.
