Looking Ahead to a New Plan Year

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 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. 

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 Insurance and Dependent Life Insurance webpages. 

Medical Plan and Dental Rates

Medical rates for PennCare/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 the Benefits Enrollment Guide.

All changes are effective July 1, 2024

Benefits Presentation

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

Workday@Penn Features

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 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. 

Update Your Beneficiary

Please review and update your life insurance beneficiary information in the Benefits, Comp and Pay Hub in Workday@Penn. To update your retirement plan beneficiaries, log in to your retirement planning account through Penn’s TIAA.org SSO link.  

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.

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

• Review the 2024-2025 Benefits Enrollment Guides.
• Contact Health Advocate at answers@HealthAdvocate.com or call 1-866-799-2329, Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.