Postdoctoral Researchers and Fellows

Open Enrollment 2024-2025 Is Closed!

Your 2024-2025 Guide

The Postdoctoral Researchers and Fellows Benefits Enrollment Guide is available with details about the 2024-2025 plan year.

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Welcome, Postdoctoral Researchers and Fellows

Welcome to the Penn Postdoctoral Researchers and Fellows Benefits Plan for 2024–2025. When it comes to making crucial decisions related to your health and well-being, the Postdoc Benefits Plan can be a supportive and comprehensive resource. These benefits are used by thousands of Penn employees every day and are integral to the strength of the Penn community. 

Postdocs are eligible to enroll in benefits on their first date of appointment. The benefits package provided by the University provides postdocs enhanced support across the spectrum of areas related to health and well-being. The plan changes take effect July 1, 2024. If you are a NRSA Fellow, you will re-enroll with Gallagher for benefits to continue coverage as of July 1.

The Office of the Vice Provost for Research is committed to continually advancing the University’s support of postdocs. Postdocs are an essential component to the outcomes of our research and scholarship, which have tremendous societal impact. Equally important is ensuring support for their roles as partners, parents, and community members.

The benefits outlined below are designed to support the health and well-being of you and your family.

    Looking Ahead to a New Plan Year

    Domestic Partner Eligibility for Benefits

    The University 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:

    • Wellness and Work-life Support. If covered under a Penn medical plan, your domestic partner can access nutrition counseling through RAMP Health. Domestic partners can also connect with MindWell for emotional well-being resources for strength and care.
    • Dependent Care. This support is provided through Penn’s backup care and snow day child care programs.

    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. 

    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 Insurance and Dependent Life Insurance webpages. 

    Medical Plan and Dental Rates

    Medical rates for PennCare/Personal Choice PPO, Aetna Choice POS II, and Keystone/AmeriHealth HMO will have an increase in the upcoming plan year. 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 the Postdoctoral Researchers and Fellows Benefits Enrollment Guide.                                                                                                   

    All changes are effective July 1, 2024

    Enrollment Process with Workday@Penn

    Be sure to review your available choices in Workday. You must enroll in order to have coverage. Use the steps below to enroll.

    1. With Your PennKey and password log in to Workday at: www.myworkday.com/upenn/login.html.
    2. From your home page, select Open Enrollment – Event in your inbox.
    3. Click Let’s Get Started.
    4. A set of tiles will show the benefit items you can view or change.
    5. Select Manage/Enroll on the benefit that you would like to review.
    6. Add dependents and beneficiaries if applicable.
    7. Complete this for each benefit tile you wish to enroll in.
    8. Once you have completed your elections, click Review and Sign at the bottom of page. If you added a new dependent that does not appear in Workday, you will be required to provide a dependent verification. You can upload this information by clicking Select Files in the attachment box and attaching the documents on this screen. 
    9. Review your elections and scroll down to bottom and click "I Accept"
    10. To complete the process click Submit.
    11. Print your confirmation statement.
    12. To view full self-service tip sheet on how to enroll: Self Service: Manage, View and Change Your Open Enrollment Elections.

    During Open Enrollment, you can make changes to your benefits coverage 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in the new Benefits, Comp and Pay Hub via Workday@Penn at http://www.myworkday.com/upenn/login.html. 

    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 Workday 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 Pay tip 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. 

    Benefits Presentation

    Although the Open Enrollment period is now closed, you can still review a PDF of the presentation.

    Updating Your Life Insurance Beneficiaries

    Please review and update your life insurance beneficiary information in the Benefits, Comp and Pay Hub in Workday@Penn.

    Your Contributions

    Your contributions for medical, dental, vision, and the flexible spending accounts are made with pre-tax dollars. You pay for employee and dependent life insurance with after-tax dollars. All contributions are taken from your paycheck in the month for which your benefits are effective. Your pay must support your contributions for the benefits elected. If your pay doesn't support your contributions, then your enrollment cannot be processed.

    Making Changes to Your Elections Outside of Open Enrollment

    If you have a qualifying life event you may be eligible to make changes to your benefit elections outside of Open Enrollment. For more information visit the Qualifying Life Event Changes page.

    For More Information