UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Development continues on the 2018 health care plans, with the University reviewing proposals for health care administrative contracts for future medical and prescription drug coverage.
As 2018 and the end of the current health care administrative contract with Highmark approaches, faculty, staff and administrators with expertise in health care, health insurance, finance, procurement and human resources have been collaborating with external consulting support on Penn State’s future medical and prescription drug coverage.
It is anticipated that Penn State will have final decisions and agreement details of the new third-party administrator contracts for medical and prescription drug benefits before the fall 2017 semester begins. When these agreements are in place, additional information will be communicated broadly to employees.
In the meantime, to help University employees understand the process, and continue to educate themselves about the medical plans and how they work, Human Resources has developed the 2018 Medical Benefits Plan Design microsite.
For convenience, the site occupies the same URL as the annual Benefits Open Enrollment site — http://sites.psu.edu/openenrollment/ — and will be updated with information for the 2018 benefits open enrollment period in November.
Microsite features include:
- Infographics to help illustrate how rising health care costs have increased over the past few years.
- Charts and explanations on how Penn State’s two medical benefits plans work.
- Informative videos, including clips with Penn State faculty members, explaining the process of exploring plan designs, the role of faculty in plan selection, and the steps the University is taking to address rising health care costs.
- Comprehensive coverage of the University’s plan to promote a “Culture of Health” among its employees.
- Archived articles for background on each step in the process.
For more information about medical and prescription coverage, visit the 2018 Medical Benefits Plan Design microsite.