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Open Enrollment

Open Enrollment 2019-2020

Open Enrollment is Complete

Your benefits elections records will automatically convert to Workday@Penn on July 1, along with your dependent information and your beneficiary information.

If you have questions, please contact the Benefits Solution Center (powered by Health Advocate) at 1–866–799-2329, Monday–Friday, 8am–11pm.

Penn Benefits Open Enrollment is your opportunity to make changes to your health care benefits for the 2019-2020 plan year, which begins July 1, 2019.

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.

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No Increase in Medical and Dental Rates

Your cost for medical and dental coverage will not increase for the 2019-2020 plan year. The University of Pennsylvania’s medical and dental plans have seen favorable claims experience over the past several years, which has enabled Penn to maintain the same rates for the upcoming year. Although the healthcare market in general has experienced approximately 5% medical cost inflation over the past few years, Penn’s plan costs have been much lower than the industry trend. Thanks to plan design changes, favorable claims experience, enhanced prescription drug management, wellness initiatives and better employee consumerism, Penn’s faculty and staff enrolled in a medical plan will not see an increase in the 2019-2020 plan year.

Plan Changes as of July 1, 2019

Enhanced Life Insurance with MetLife

On July 1, MetLife will become Penn’s life insurance provider. Penn’s Basic Life Insurance for eligible faculty and staff will continue to be 1 x  your benefits base salary up to $300,000. Penn provides Basic Life Insurance coverage at no cost to you. Additionally, the cost for Supplemental Life Insurance has been significantly reduced. 

A One-Time Opportunity to Increase Supplemental Life Insurance Coverage

If your Supplemental Life Insurance coverage is at the current maximum of $500,000, you may be eligible to increase coverage up to 5 x your salary, to a maximum of $750,000 depending on your salary. If you select a coverage level above $750,000 you must provide additional evidence of insurability. To take advantage of this opportunity, you must elect this increase during this year’s Open Enrollment period.

Please note: You can only increase your life insurance in increments of .5 or 1x what you currently have to the maximum of 5x.  For example, If you currently have elected 1x your salary, during Open Enrollment you will only be able to move up to 1.5x or 2x times your salary. 

Workday@Penn

This year you will complete Open Enrollment through the ADP enrollment system at www.pennbenefits.upenn.edu as you have done in previous years. With the launch of Workday@Penn in July, your benefits elections records will automatically be transferred to a new system and you’ll be able to make beneficiary changes and declare qualifying life event changes on the convenient, state-of-the-art Workday@Penn website, www.workday.upenn.edu.

Be sure to review your choices even if you plan to keep the same coverage you have now. After the Workday@Penn launch, healthcare benefits changes can only be made if you declare a qualifying life event.

Health Care and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)

When you participate in a Health Care FSA, you set aside pre-tax dollars to use for certain out-of-pocket healthcare costs. The IRS has increased the FSA limit from $2,650 to $2,700 for the 2019 calendar year. This year, you will make your FSA election in the current ADP system.Starting July 1, as part of the Workday@Penn transition, you can manage your Penn Health Care and Dependent Care FSA on the new, enhanced WageWorks platform. This platform upgrade will provide a better mobile experience with access to FSA apps and improved tools.

To facilitate the upgrade, you will be issued a new debit card. You can only use the new card for your expenses incurred after July 1, 2019. As you know,  you can only rollover $500 to the next plan year, so be sure to submit your claims for the current plan year in a timely manner.

Health Savings Accounts (HSA) for HDHP

An HSA is a tax savings account for High Deductible Health Plan participants. HSA funds may be used to offset the cost of care. Penn will contribute to your HSA $1,000 for single coverage or $2,000 for family coverage. You can also contribute additional money to an HSA via pre-tax payroll deductions. 

Penn’s Health Savings Account administration is moving from Aetna/Payflex to WageWorks. A new account will be opened for participants at BNY Mellon. During Open Enrollment, in order to establish your new account, you will be required to agree to the BNY Mellon Terms and Conditions. If you have funds in your HSA at the end of the plan year, they will be transferred to a new bank, BNY Mellon. 

HDHP plan participants, watch for important notification in the mail and your email inbox. You will receive new debit cards for the 2019-2020 plan year. You can expect to receive your employer contribution in early July. 

WageWorks will transfer your HSA balance to BNY Mellon by early August. BNY Mellon will add these funds to your new HSA. If you do not want these funds to be moved, you will receive instructions to opt out of the transfer and you will be responsible for managing any ongoing monthly service fees. 

The IRS has announced an increase in the HSA family maximum contribution by $50 for calendar year 2019. The single contribution limit will be $3,500 and the family contribution limit will be $7,000—inclusive of your employer contribution.

Account Rules Reminder

Penn is updating its FSA and HSA processes, however the rules for using these accounts remain the same. You may still need to provide receipts to verify that your claims are qualified expenses in accordance with IRS guidelines. The new WageWorks platform makes it easier for you to submit receipts, verify expenses and manage your accounts.

New Behavioral Health Networks for PennCare/Personal Choice PPO and Aetna POS

Quest Behavioral Health will be the new behavioral health administrator for the PennCare PPO plan, replacing Penn Behavioral Health. It is important to note that all of the Penn Behavioral Health network providers are transitioning to the Quest network. Plus you may have access to additional providers from the Quest network.

Participants in the Aetna Choice POS Plan will change from the Penn Behavioral Health network to Aetna Behavioral Health network providers for services. You can check your provider’s participation with Aetna through Aetna Navigator at www.Aetna.com.

If you or your dependents are currently receiving treatment through a provider who is not in the Aetna or Quest network, a transition of care plan will be developed for you.

Participants in the Aetna HDHP Plan will continue to use Aetna Behavioral Health network providers and Keystone Health Plan participants will continue to use the Magellan network.

Dermatology Screening as Preventive Care

This year Penn is adding an annual dermatology visit to the list of preventive screenings that have a $0 copay. This benefit is being added to all medical plans, except the Aetna High Deductible plan. Under current regulations, the High Deductible plan cannot have $0 copay for any services other than the ones specifically designated as preventive under ACA. Dermatology is not on that list.  

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 that is not the case, then your enrollment cannot be processed.

Campus Locations To Access the Penn Benefits Website

If you don’t have internet access at home or at work, don’t worry—log on to manage your benefits at one of these convenient locations:

Goldstein Undergraduate Study Center
3420 Walnut Street (ground level of Van Pelt Dietrich Library)
Monday–Thursday: 24 hours daily
Friday: closes 12 midnight
Saturday: 10am–2am
Sunday: opens 10am

Human Resources
600 Franklin Building
3451 Walnut Street 
Monday–Friday: 8:30am–5pm

AppleOne Employment Services Penn Job Center
3440 Market Street, Suite 105
Monday–Friday: 8am–5pm 

Are You Newly Eligible for Benefits or Have You Experienced a Qualifying Event?

If you’re newly eligible for benefits or you experience a qualifying life event between now and June 30, 2019, you’ll need to enroll twice: once to elect or change your benefits for the current plan year (through June 30, 2019), and then again to elect your coverage for the 2019-2020 plan year (starting July 1, 2019). Download the Guide to Managing Life Events for details.

For More Information