Health Aware	Print Issue
April 15, 2008, Volume 54, No. 29

Health Aware is an ongoing series designed to help you be proactive in managing your health and healthcare by taking advantage of the many resources available to you as a Penn faculty or staff member.

Open Enrollment Ends April 18

If you haven’t yet taken the opportunity to review your benefits coverage during the 2008–2009 Open Enrollment period, now is the time—this once-a-year chance to make any changes you like to your benefits elections will end this Friday, April 18. Detailed information about your healthcare plan options is available in the personalized Open Enrollment packet you should have received at your home address in early April, or from the Human Resources website at www.hr.upenn.edu.

Even if you don’t intend to make changes to your healthcare plan(s), alter your pre-tax expense account contributions or life insurance amount, or add or remove a dependent, it’s still important to make sure you understand the changes being made to existing plans in the upcoming plan year (July 1, 2008–June 30, 2009). Keep in mind that new coverage rates will be reflected in your June 2008 paycheck, since healthcare premiums are deducted a month in advance (pre-tax expense account contributions will begin with your July 2008 paycheck).

Now through April 18, you can update your benefits coverage 24/7 by logging on to www.upenn.edu/u@penn and clicking on “Open Enrollment” in the “Announcements” section at the top-left of the page. If you don’t have internet access, or are having problems enrolling online, please call the Penn Benefits Center at 1-888-PENN-BEN (1-888-736-6236) between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., Monday–Friday.

If you are an active faculty or staff member who will be covering dependents in the 2008–2009 plan year, remember to prepare for the dependent eligibility audit. When the audit begins in May, you will be asked to provide documentation that verifies the eligibility of your dependents under Penn’s plan rules. Open Enrollment serves as an audit amnesty period, during which you can remove ineligible dependents from your coverage with no penalties and no questions asked. More information about the audit, including the rules governing dependent eligibility and a list of acceptable documents to verify different types of dependents, is available online at www.hr.upenn.edu. When the new plan year starts on July 1, unverified and ineligible dependents will be dropped from coverage, and the individuals attempting to cover them may face financial and disciplinary consequences.

Free Medical Premiums Drawing

As you consider how best to manage your healthcare—and your health—in the new plan year, remember that through April 30, active faculty and staff currently receiving healthcare coverage through Penn can enter a drawing for one full year of free medical premiums.* To earn a chance to win this exciting prize, simply fill out an online health risk assessment.

A health risk assessment is a confidential survey that asks basic questions about your health habits and history. In return, you‘ll receive an easy-to-understand health report that gives you a non-clinical overview of your current health status, as well as your health risks and how to manage them. Whether you choose to share this report with your personal doctor or just use it to build a healthier lifestyle, your health risk assessment is a powerful tool.

Complete your health risk assessment by April 30 and you will automatically be entered into the free medical premiums drawing. Three winners will be selected at random from among all eligible entrants, and announced in May. To learn how to fill out your health risk assessment, visit the HR website at www.hr.upenn.edu and select “Health Risk Assessments” from the “Benefits” menu on the left-hand side of the page. You do not need to have attended an on-campus health screening to fill out your health risk assessment.

*Copays, deductibles and other out-of-pocket expenses are not included.

— Division of Human Resources