Supplement Your Benefit Needs With Voluntary Benefits
Purdue offers you the opportunity to select several voluntary benefits. These employee-paid options complement your core benefits from Purdue (medical, dental, life/accident, etc.) and most of them are paid via payroll deduction.These voluntary benefit options are designed to help you and your family through difficulties, including legal issues, an accident, critical illness or a death in the family. As you prepare for open enrollment, which is from Tuesday, Oct. 29 through 6 p.m. ET Tuesday, Nov. 12, we’d like to help you in considering how these plans may be advantageous for you.
More employees are enrolled in high deductible health plans than ever before, and knowing that the Purdue Health Plan (PPO) is going away in 2021, even more employees are exploring the move to the high deductible plans.
Your medical plan serves as the core to cover all types of expenses related to prevention, illness and injuries. We all do our best to choose plans based on our prior health expenses and any anticipated needs for the coming year. Savings plans like the HSAs and FSAs help cover out-of-pocket expenses. And, over time, you can build savings through your HSA to help with less anticipated costs that may arise. The plans below help to give you extra piece of mind that if an unexpected situation occurs, you will have some additional financial protection to help get you through. It’s a good idea to take a look at these plans, which have very competitive rates, to work in conjunction with your medical and savings plans.
Be sure to review the documents that accompany these plans. They are not comprehensive plans like our medical plans. They are very specific in what they pay for, and there are limits and exclusions you will want to know about before you enroll. All the detailed documents are available on the website for you to review, simply click on the benefit below to learn more.
Click here to learn more aboutyour voluntary benefits
Basic Term Life Insurance and Voluntary Term Life Insurance (Securian, formerly Minnesota Life)
Life insurance is a very important benefit. Taking time to make sure you have the coverage you and your family need can make a big difference should a death occur. Term Life insurance has a simple plan design. While there are not a lot of bells and whistles to this kind of plan, it is designed to pay a lump sum benefit in the event of death resulting from accident (on or off-the-job) and/or medical reasons. Term Life is one of the most cost-effective types of life insurance available.
Employee Coverage Options:
- Purdue pays for a basic term life benefit for all benefit-eligible employees in the amount of 1 ½ times salary
- Employees can purchase additional Voluntary Term Life Insurance in multiples of salary from 1 to 8 times salary up to $2,000,000.
Family Coverage Options:
- Spouse term life is available in $10,000 increments, not to exceed $200,000 (or the employee’s total life insurance coverage amount if less than $200,000)
- Child term life amounts available are $10,000 or $20,000 (one rate covers all eligible children)
Proof of Insurability: Employees and spouses who wish to increase their amount of coverage during open enrollment or at other times of the year will need to go through a review of their current health status, called Evidence of Insurability (EOI). While this may sound a bit intimidating, the process is fairly simple. If you feel you may need additional life insurance, going through this process sooner rather than later will give you the best chance of being approved for additional coverage. Some qualifying life events allow you to increase your life insurance one level without going through the Evidence of Insurability process.
Accidental Death and Dismemberment (Securian, formerly Minnesota Life)
This plan often gets confused with either accident insurance and/or general life insurance plans. This coverage provides financial protection in the event of accidents, but in a different way than the Accident Insurance referred to above. This plan pays you an amount for specific types of losses incurred as the result of an accident (on or off-the-job). Examples would include loss of life, sight, hands, feet, speech, hearing. You are able to make changes during open enrollment or when some qualifying life events occur – this plan never requires evidence of insurability review. Employees find coverage under this plan to be surprisingly inexpensive – it is a good economical way to add coverage to protect against accidents to complement your term life insurance, but remember this plan only pays when an accident occurs – different than your term life insurance.
- Purdue pays for a basic AD&D benefit of $15,000 for all benefit-eligible employees.
- Employees can purchase more AD&D coverage in $10,000 increments, up to $1 million
- Spouse coverage is also available in $10,000 increments, up to $300,000
- Coverage for children is available in $10,000 increments, up to $50,000 (one rate covers all eligible children)
Universal Life Insurance (Transamerica)
This is a very different type of life insurance than we have described so far. This plan is individually rated based on your health status and level of coverage you wish to purchase. In general, the coverage is more expensive to purchase because it provides a broader benefit. If you are looking for a life insurance plan where you build cash value over time, have withdrawal/loan options available, and you want a full plan to follow you for life, this plan is worth looking into. Enrollment in this plan is restricted to open enrollment, new hire, or some life events. The plan requires evidence of insurability review for all except new hires.
This plan pays you directly for such services as medical treatment, hospitalization, diagnostic testing, follow-up care, transportation and lodging incurred due to an accident (outside of work). You can use the funds to help meet your deductible and out-of-pocket expenses under your medical plan, or for any other needs.
Critical Illness Insurance (MetLife)
A lump sum benefit is payable to you if you or a covered family member are diagnosed with a covered critical illness such as heart attack, stroke, cancer, coronary artery bypass graft, etc. Coverage for your spouse/dependents is available at 50% of the selected employee benefit, and multiple coverage levels are available.
Supplemental Hospital Insurance (MetLife)
This benefit pays you for hospital stays due to accident or illness. Typically, a flat amount is paid for a hospital admission and an additional per-day amount for subsequent days of hospitalization. There are two plans to choose from and you can choose which family members to cover.
Short Term Disability (Guardian – new in 2020)
Most of us are not equipped to be off work for more than a short time without our income. Short Term Disability is a benefit that replaces most of your income during periods of short term illness or injury, until you are able to return to work or until you become eligible for long-term disability. After a three-week waiting period, the plan pays you 65% of your normal pay and allows you to supplement with your sick leave/vacation benefits (and Worker’s Compensation when applicable). Beginning in January 2020, the university has partnered with the Guardian Life Insurance Company of America to administer the Short Term Disability plan, replacing CIGNA. You can enroll in this plan during open enrollments - if you have been employed for less than a year, your STD coverage will begin on your one-year service anniversary.
Long Term Disability (Guardian – new in 2020)
Extended medical events can be financially devastating. The university realizes this and pays for 50 percent of the cost of Long Term Disability (LTD) insurance for all benefit-eligible employees. Employees pay the other 50 percent of the premium. LTD provides 65 percent income replacement during extended periods of disability resulting from illness or injury. The plan covers both occupational and non-occupational disabilities. Beginning in January 2020, the university has partnered with the Guardian Life Insurance Company of America to administer the Long Term Disability plan, replacing CIGNA. You are automatically enrolled in this plan upon hire and do not have to enroll again.
Auto and Home Insurance (Liberty Mutual)
This plan is not payroll deducted and you will not see it in Benefitfocus to enroll, but the university has a partnership with Liberty Mutual to provide discounts on automotive and homeowners coverage, plus a wide range of other property and casualty insurance products. When you are shopping for these coverages, be sure to consider getting a quote from Liberty Mutual to compare.
The legal plan provides unlimited access to attorneys at an affordable monthly rate. In-network attorneys provide basic legal services at no cost. You can also use out-of-network attorneys, based on a set fee schedule. Coverage includes family/personal law, financial, home and real estate, civil lawsuits, future/estate, identity management, vehicle and driving, and elder care issues. Enrollment in the plan is restricted to open enrollment each year.
Long Term Care Insurance (Genworth Life Insurance)
This plan is not payroll deducted and you will not see it in Benefitfocus to enroll. Long term care insurance provides coverage when a person needs substantial assistance with two or more “activities of daily living” or ADLs. These include things such as eating, dressing and moving from a bed to a chair. The person may receive care in his or her own home or at a facility, such as an assisted living residence or a nursing home. Purchasing Long Term Care insurance requires solid research. Genworth will work with you to review options available and costs for the coverage that you can use to compare to other plans.
Pet Insurance is a way to provide financial protection for your pets. After all, they are often an important part of the family! This offering provides health insurance coverage for your pets to help pay for treatments, surgeries, lab fees, X-rays, etc. You can choose your veterinarian, including specialists and emergency providers, with no pre-approval required.