myHR: April 13, 2022 Open Enrollment Special Edition

Penn Benefits Open Enrollment Starts April 18

Penn’s Benefits Open Enrollment is your annual opportunity to make changes to your health plans, life insurance, and flexible spending accounts. Before the upcoming two-week Open Enrollment period (Monday, April 18-Friday, April 29, 2022) we encourage faculty and staff to take this time to learn about the upcoming 2022-2023 plan year. 

Be sure to carefully review your Benefits Enrollment Guide for 2022-2023 available for download at www.hr.upenn.edu/openenrollment. The open enrollment webpage also connects you to 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

During Open Enrollment you can enroll in one of Penn’s benefits plans or change your elections if you need coverage that better meets the 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 dependent's eligibility in Workday by submitting the appropriate documents when you enroll.)

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, 2023. 

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 health and life coverage elections you make during the two-week enrollment period will go into effect on July 1, 2022 and stay in effect until June 30, 2023. You can only make health and life benefits changes during a plan year if you experience a qualifying life event. 

Looking Ahead to a New Plan Year on July 1, 2022

The 2022-2023 enrollment guides and online charts describe medical, prescription drug, dental, vision, and life insurance plans available to benefits-eligible University faculty and staff for the plan year beginning July 1, 2022 and ending June 30, 2023. 

There will be an increase to the medical plan rates, however most other plan rates will remain the same for full-time benefits eligible faculty and staff.

Virtual Benefits Presentations

If you missed the April 11 on-campus Benefits Enrollment Fair, Penn Benefits offers live, virtual Open Enrollment presentations on the following dates.

How to Enroll or Change Your Benefits Elections

During Open Enrollment, you can make changes to your benefits coverage 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at www.myworkday.com/upenn/login.html. 

Read the updated Self-Service: Manage, View and Change Your Benefits Workday tip sheet for instructions. 

Please remember to print a confirmation statement for your records. 

Update Your Beneficiary

While you’re logged in to Workday@Penn, please review and update your life insurance beneficiary information. 

To update your retirement plan beneficiaries, log in to your retirement planning account through Penn’s TIAA.org SSO link.

Flexible Spending Accounts Updates and Reminders 

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 2022-2023, 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 $570 of all unused funds from the 2021-2022 plan year to the 2022-2023 plan year. All unused funds over the $570 limit will be forfeited. 

You must incur all expenses between July 1, 2021, and June 30, 2022. Claims must be submitted by September 30, 2022. 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 2022-2023 plan year, you’ll have until September 15, 2023 to incur expenses and until September 30, 2023 to submit eligible expenses for reimbursement. 

Visit https://www.hr.upenn.edu/PennHR/benefits-pay/health-life-and-fsa/health/flexible-spending-accounts for more FSA details and single-sign-on access to WageWorks/HealthEquity.

For Answers and Support 

To find out more about Benefits Open Enrollment: 

• Register for a virtual Open Enrollment Information Session on April 14, 19, or 26.
• Visit www.hr.upenn.edu/openenrollment for Benefits Enrollment Guides,  details and useful tools.
• Contact Human Resources at benefits@hr.upenn.edu or the Benefits Solution Center at 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 plan elections any time of the year—not just during the Open Enrollment period. Update your plan beneficiary, increase your contributions, revise your investment mix, or just check your elections when the time is right for you at TIAA.org.