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- OF RECORD
Approval of Recommendations: Benefits Redesign II
-
- To the University Faculty and Staff:
- We are pleased to acknowledge the second set of recommendations on
benefits redesign put forward by the Benefits Advisory Committee and endorsed
by the Academic Planning and Budget Committee and the Personnel Benefits
Committee of the University Council. They were published for comment in
Almanac
on February 10, 1998.
- The recommendations have now been forwarded to us for action.
-
- On Health Care Insurance we accept in full the recommendations.
- The University will:
- Make no change in Plan 100's Major Medical $1,000,000 lifetime maximum.
- Replace the $2,000,000 combined in-network and out-of-network lifetime
maximum benefit in the PennCare option with an unlimited lifetime maximum
for in-network care and a $1,000,000 lifetime maximum benefit for out-of-network
care.
- Express annual and lifetime mental health benefit limits in days rather
than dollars and eliminate separate lifetime limits on outpatient mental
health benefits in Plan 100, PennCare and the UPHS/Keystone POS plan.
-
- On The Retirement Plan we accept in full the recommendations.
- The University will:
- Make the TDA plan available to employees who are at least age 21 and
have completed at least one year of service. Current participants with
less than one year of service will be grandfathered.
- Permit TDA plan participants who terminate prior to age 55 to withdraw
the full balance in their Tax-Deferred Annuity accounts (including University
matching contributions).
- Increase the mandatory cash-out amount from the Retirement Allowance
Plan from $3,500 to $5,000.
- Continue discussions on the retirement plans from perspectives other
than compliance. This will include examining long-term objectives for the
plans, concerns of faculty and staff, and benchmarking studies.
- On Long-Term Disability we accept in full the recommendations.
- The University will:
- Retain the current income replacement level of 60% of base salary.
- Increase the maximum monthly benefit to $7,500 and eliminate the three-year
waiting period for A-3 and certain A-1 employees so that all benefits eligible
faculty and staff will participate on their first day of employment. (As
is currently the case, benefits will begin after six months of continuous
disability.)
- Set the amount the University pays for medical coverage at the HMO
premium for individual or family coverage depending upon the employee's
coverage at the time of disability. (Disabled employees who want to remain
in a plan other than an HMO may do so by contributing the premium differential.)
Employees who are currently disabled will be grandfathered under the old
policy.
- Continue University contributions for disabled employees in the Tax-Deferred
Annuity Plan whether or not the employee continues to contribute.
-
- On Long-Term Care Insurance we accept in full the recommendations.
- The University will:
- Offer to employees, retirees, spouses/domestic partners, parents, parents-in-law,
grandparents and grandparents-in-law the option to purchase individual
long-term care coverage.
-
- We believe that the proposed changes to current benefits and the addition
of a new optional benefit will continue to provide Penn employees with
a strong, competitive benefits package while at the same time help to contain
the cost of benefits to the University. We believe also that the changes
satisfy the articulated principles of the benefits redesign process and
that they will ultimately advance the University's mission as well as the
quality of life and well-being of its employees.
Judith Rodin, President Michael Wachter, Interim
Provost
-
John A. Fry, Executive Vice President
Return to:Almanac, University of Pennsylvania, March
17, 1998, Volume 44, Number 25 |