Eligibility for Retiree Benefits
Rule of 75
You are eligible to receive retiree health benefits if you meet the “Rule of 75”. This means that your age plus your years of service must total at least 75 with a minimum of age 55 and 15 years of service, or age 62 and 10 years of service. Service must be full-time and continuous.
Note that if you meet the age and service minimums (age 55 and 15 years of service, or age 62 and 10 years of service) by December 31, 2008, you can retire later than that date and not be required to meet the Rule of 75. You will then be eligible for retiree benefits when you actually retire/terminate from Penn.
The Rule of 75 applies to all retiree benefits, including tuition, life insurance, dental and vision plans. Please see the applicable sections for more details.
If you terminate employment and do not meet the eligibility requirements described above, you may be eligible to continue your existing medical, dental or vision benefit through COBRA for up to 18 months. For more information on COBRA, review Penn's Health and Welfare Summary Plan Description [pdf] or contact the Penn Benefits Center at 1-888-PENNBENN (1-888-736-6236) and press option #4.
Dependents
Eligible dependents include
your spouse/same-sex domestic partner and dependent children who meet the
requirements for eligibility on your last day of service. You and your
dependents do not need to be enrolled in a medical plan on your last day of
service in order to be eligible for retiree health benefits. However, you must
register your eligible dependents with Penn within the 90-day period
prior to your last day of service in order to cover them under Penn’s retiree
health benefits at a later date. Eligible dependents who are not registered by
the above date will not qualify for any retiree health benefits at a later time.
Note the following about your dependent children:
- Unmarried dependent children may continue to receive coverage up to age 19
(up to age 23 for full-time college students). You must certify the student
status of your dependent children twice a year. Benefits for dependent students will stop at the end of the month in
which they are no longer enrolled as full-time students or they turn age 23.
- A dependent child between the age of 19 and 23 who met the definition of
eligibility other than full-time student status at the time of retirement may
enroll in Penn's retiree health plans at a later date if medical coverage under
another plan is canceled or if the child enrolls in school full-time.
- If you have a dependent child who was disabled prior to age 19 and
has been approved and certified by your insurance carrier, that child may be
covered under the University’s retiree medical plan past the limiting age as
described above as long as your carrier continues to consider him/her to be
disabled. If your dependent child is collecting Social Security and is eligible
for Medicare Parts A and B, then he/she must enroll for Medicare. Contact your
insurance carrier for more information on coverage for disabled dependent children.
In the event of your death:
- Your surviving spouse/same-sex domestic partner may continue to receive
coverage until remarriage/recertification or death.
- Your eligible unmarried dependent children may continue to receive coverage up
to age 19 (up to age 23 for full-time college students).
- Your eligible unmarried disabled dependent children may continue to receive
coverage past age 19 (or 23) as long as your insurance carrier continues to
consider them to be disabled.
For more information about eligibility rules for dependents,
see the Retiree Health Plan Summary Plan Description [pdf].