2025 Benefits Open Enrollment

2025 Benefits Open Enrollment officially begins on Friday, November 1 and will end at 5:00 pm (EST) on Friday, November 15. Employees will be able to take advantage of the Benefits Mentor decision tool, available in Workday, to compare plans using their past individual claim history prior to making changes to their 2025 benefits in Workday.

Employees RETIRING on December 31, 2024 should NOT complete the Benefits Open Enrollment. Enrolling as a retiree in the medical plan is a separate process and will be completed at time of retirement. Please join a Thinking About Retiring webinar to learn more details.

Use the Benefits Mentor to help determine which plan would be best for you.

Faculty and Staff Employee 2025 benefits highlights:

  • New Health plan option
    • Lion Advantage Flex – For 2025 Penn State will be offering a third medical plan option through Highmark, the Lion Advantage Flex plan. This plan has the same contributions and coverage as the Lion Advantage plan; however, it is NOT paired with an HSA. This plan is intended for individuals who would prefer a high deductible/low contribution health plan but are covered by another medical plan such as Medicare. Participants do have the option of enrolling in a Health Care Flexible Spending Account (FSA) to set aside pre-tax funds to pay for eligible medical expenses.
  • Health Care Contribution Increase
    • There will be an increase to health care employee contributions. Penn State is committed to maintaining a 75/25 cost share with its employees. All plan design elements, including copays, deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums, will remain the same in 2025 for employees enrolled in Penn State’s Lion Traditional plan, while the only change to the Lion Advantage plan will be a required increase in the IRS minimum deductible.
    • Use the Health Care Contribution Calculator for an estimate of your payroll deductions.
  • Dental Insurance Changes:
    • Slight increase to dental insurance rates
  • Life Insurance Changes:
    • Slight increase to optional Age-Graded Employee and Spouse Life insurance rates
  • New Insurance Options; Technical service employees are not eligible for these new optional benefits:
    • Legal Insurance – Administered by MetLife, legal insurance provides coverage on the costs of a wide range of common legal issues. Participants will have access to experienced attorneys to help with estate planning, home sales, tax audits and more.
    • Pet Insurance – Administered by MetLife, the optional pet insurance plan is open to Faculty & Staff via direct enrollment and payment options through the MetLife pet insurance plan portal. This means employees will not enroll through Workday. The plans are customizable based on the employee’s pet’s needs, breed and age of the pet.
    • Identity Protection Insurance – Administered by ID Watchdog, Identity protection insurance provides greater peace of mind with a convenient and affordable way to better protect and monitor your identity. You can choose employee only coverage or family coverage.
  • Health Care Flexible Spending Account (FSA) Rollover - If you wish to utilize the rollover feature that allows $640 from your 2024 Health Care FSA to carry into 2025, you MUST elect the FSA during Benefits Open Enrollment.

Technical Service Employee 2025 benefits highlights:

  • Increased benefit for Well360 Virtual Visits (telemedicine):
    • Lion Advantage HSA = $0 cost share after deductible is met
    • Lion Traditional = $0 copay
  • Health Care Contributions per Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA)
  • Dental Insurance Changes:
    • Slight increase to dental insurance rates
  • Life Insurance Changes:
    • Slight increase to optional Age-Graded Employee, and Spousal Life insurance
  • Increased Long-term Disability benefits
    • For participants with an approved claim, you will receive 60% of your salary up to a maximum of $10,000 per month
  • Increased child life benefit; $5,000 or $10,000 or $20,000

Learn more about your benefits