HUMAN RESOURCES BULLETINS

CAREMARK | SUMMARY ANNUAL REPORTS: RETIREMENT & LIFE INSURANCE | SCHOLARSHIP BENEFITS

Caremark Prescription Services Online

If you are currently covered under one of the University's medical plans, you also have prescription coverage through Caremark Prescription Services. If you haven't already, visit Caremark's website (www.rxrequest.com) to see how it can help you to conveniently manage your prescription benefits and provide you with helpful information. You can order refills online, check the status of your prescription orders, find a pharmacy in your area, and check to see if a particular drug is covered under the plan.

A new addition to Caremark's website is a feature called "Ask a Pharmacist". This feature allows users to ask questions to Caremark pharmacists regarding prescriptions and drug usage. (Note that the "Drug Information" feature is still available for general information about a specific medication).

To access the new feature, after signing on to RxRequest.com, click on "Drug Info" and then click on "Ask a Pharmacist". You will be asked to read and acknowledge a disclaimer and provide some personal information before submitting your question. Then, Caremark's pharmacists will respond privately and confidentially to your question within two working days. You will receive an e-mail notification advising you that your response is available and explaining how to retrieve it. Anytime you send an e-mail on RxRequest.com either to Customer Service or to a Pharmacist, you can be confident that both your e-mail and the response are secure.

If you have any questions, you can contact Caremark via the "Message Center" feature on their website, or call Caremark directly at 1-800-378-0802.

--Division of Human Resources

CAREMARK | SUMMARY ANNUAL REPORTS: RETIREMENT & LIFE INSURANCE | SCHOLARSHIP BENEFITS


Summary Annual Reports: Retirement and Life Insurance

This is a summary of the annual reports for the Retirement Allowance Plan and for the Life Insurance Program sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania, EIN 23-1352685, for the period July 1, 1999 through June 30, 2000. The annual reports have been filed with the Internal Revenue Service, as required under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA).

To facilitate publication, the reports have been combined. Consequently, portions of this summary may refer to a plan in which you are not currently participating.

Retirement Allowance Plan: Basic Financial Statement

Benefits under the plan are provided through a trust fund. Plan expenses were $5,565,261. These expenses included $412,873 in administrative expenses and $5,152,388 in benefits paid to participants and beneficiaries. A total of 6,358 persons were participants in or beneficiaries of the plan at the end of the plan year.

The value of plan assets, after subtracting liabilities of the plan, was $136,183,646 as of June 30, 2000, compared to $146,210,290 as of July 1, 1999. During the plan year the plan experienced a decrease in its net assets of $10,026,644. This decrease includes net unrealized appreciation or depreciation in the value of plan assets; that is, the difference between the value of the plan's assets at the end of the year and the value of the assets at the beginning of the year or the cost of assets acquired during the year.

Minimum Funding Standards

An actuary's statement shows that enough money has been contributed to the plan to keep it funded in accordance with the minimum funding standards of ERISA.

Life Insurance Program: Insurance Information

The plan has a contract with Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association to pay Life Insurance, AD&D and Dependent Life claims incurred under the terms of the plan. The total premiums paid for the plan year ending June 30, 2000 were $3,283,289.

Because it is a so-called "experience-rated" contract, the premium costs are affected by, among other things, the number and size of claims. Of the total insurance premiums paid for the plan year ending June 30, 2000, the premiums paid under such "experience-rated" contract were $3,283,289 and the total of all benefit claims paid under the experience-rated contract during the plan year was $3,231,551.

Your Rights to Additional Information

Under ERISA, you have the right to receive a copy of either full annual report, or any part thereof, on request.

To obtain a copy of either plan's full annual report, or any part thereof, write or call the office of Joanne M. Blythe, Retirement Manager, University of Pennsylvania, 3401 Walnut Street, Suite 527A, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6228, (215) 898-9947. The charge to cover copying costs will be $5 for the full annual report or 25 cents per page for any part thereof.

You also have the legally protected right to examine the annual reports at the main office of the plan and at the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington, D.C., or to obtain a copy from the U.S. Department of Labor upon payment of copying costs. Requests to the Department should be addressed to: Public Disclosure Room, Room N-5638, Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20210.

--Division of Human Resources

CAREMARK | SUMMARY ANNUAL REPORTS: RETIREMENT & LIFE INSURANCE | SCHOLARSHIP BENEFITS


Unique Scholarship Benefits

The University of Pennsylvania provides "unique benefits" for its faculty and staff. The Division of Human Resources would like to remind the faculty and staff of the "unique benefits" regarding scholarships for qualified dependents of deceased faculty/staff members as well as qualified dependents of retired faculty/staff members.

For dependent children:

  • A dependent child of a deceased member of the faculty or regular full-time or limited service staff is eligible for tuition benefits, provided the faculty/staff member was full-time on the date of death and had been so for at least seven (7) years.
  • A dependent child of a retired member of the faculty or regular full-time or limited service staff member is eligible for tuition benefits provided the faculty/staff member meets both the university eligibility requirements and retirement criteria.

For spouse/same sex domestic partners:

  • The surviving spouse/same-sex domestic partner of a deceased member of the faculty or regular full-time or limited service staff is eligible for tuition benefits, provided the faculty/staff member was full-time on the date of death and had been so for at least seven (7) years.
  • The spouse/same-sex domestic partner of a retired member of the faculty or regular full-time or limited service staff member is eligible for tuition benefits provided the faculty/staff member meets both the university eligibility requirements and retirement criteria.

The Executive Director of Human Resources, Benefits makes final administrative determinations if any questions arise concerning a faculty/staff member's employment relationship with the University and eligibility for scholarship assistance under the program. Undergraduate scholarships are limited to eight (8) semesters/(12) trimesters.

For more detailed information, please refer to tuition policies 407, 408 or 409 at the Human Resources website: www.hr.upenn.edu.

--Division of Human Resources

CAREMARK | SUMMARY ANNUAL REPORTS: RETIREMENT & LIFE INSURANCE | SCHOLARSHIP BENEFITS


Almanac, Vol. 48, No. 1, July 17, 2001

| FRONT PAGE | CONTENTS | JOB-OPS | CRIMESTATS | OF RECORD: Postdoctoral Stipend Levels AND Research Foundation Guidelines | GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS UPDATE | TALK ABOUT TEACHING ARCHIVE | BETWEEN ISSUES | SUMMER at PENN |