Part 1: Health (Medical, Dental, Life, and Disability) Insurance

Eligible UW employees are offered insurance through the Public Employees Benefits Board (PEBB) Program, which is administered by the Washington State Health Care Authority (HCA). PEBB purchases and coordinates the health insurance benefits for all state employees, including UW employees.*

*Health insurance for academic student employees is provided through the Graduate Appointee Insurance Program (GAIP). If eligible, you are automatically enrolled for this coverage, and may elect to enroll your dependents.

Understand Your Choices for Medical and Dental Insurance

Refer to these resources for more information on your PEBB health insurance choices:

• 2024 PEBB Enrollment Guide (PDF)
• UWHR Benefits’ Health Insurance pages:
  • Refer to the Health and Dental Plan Options page to learn about the Uniform Medical Plan and Kaiser Permanente options, as well as dental plans.
  • You can also Compare Health Plans, including information about plan networks and costs.

Understand Your Choices for Life, AD&D, and Long-Term Disability Insurance

As part of your PEBB benefits package, you are automatically enrolled in:

• Basic Life insurance ($35,000 coverage)
• Basic Accidental Death & Dismemberment (AD&D) insurance ($5,000 coverage)
• Employer-Paid Long-Term Disability (LTD) insurance
• Employee-Paid LTD insurance at 60% coverage with a 90-day waiting period
  • You can choose to reduce your coverage level to 50%, or opt out entirely.

You can also choose to expand your Life insurance coverage level by applying for Optional Life and Optional AD&D insurance (done outside of Workday).

Understand Your Additional Choices

You can also reduce your taxes with these additional ways to save for medical costs and child care/elder care:

• A Flexible Spending Arrangement (FSA) lets you set aside a portion of your salary to pay for certain expenses:
  • A Medical FSA can be used to pay for deductibles, prescriptions, coinsurance, dentist visits, vision care, and other expenses not covered by health insurance.* For more information, visit UWHR’s FSA: Tax savings for medical costs page; you can also refer to PEBB’s Medical FSA Enrollment Guide (PDF).
  • A Limited Purpose FSA can be used by CDHP enrollees to pay for vision and dental expenses. For more information, visit UWHR’s Limited Purpose FSA page.
• The Dependent Care Assistance Program (DCAP) helps you pay for child care and elder care by allowing you to set aside a portion of your salary for eligible expenses. For more information:
  • Visit UWHR Benefits’ DCAP: Tax savings for child and elder care page
  • Refer to PEBB’s DCAP Enrollment Guide (PDF)

*Your ability to enroll in a Medical FSA depends on your choice of medical plan – not all medical plans allow you to have an FSA.

Don’t Miss Your Health Insurance Enrollment Deadline!

• Your deadline to enroll for health insurance is 31 days from the date you were hired into a benefits-eligible position; or, for some employees, the date you gained your initial eligibility in your current position.

Keep an eye on your inbox for emails from Workday, which specify the exact date of the enrollment deadline that has been set for you by the HCA.

What happens if you miss the deadline?
If you choose to take no action in Workday before your 31-day enrollment enrollment deadline, you will receive the following health insurance coverage by default:

• The medical plan you will be enrolled in, and will pay for, is Uniform Medical Plan (UMP) Classic with Employee Only coverage.
• You will be subject to paying the $25 monthly PEBB Tobacco Use Surcharge.
• You will be enrolled in Employee-Paid Long-Term Disability (LTD) insurance coverage at 60% coverage with a 90-day waiting period.
• Additionally, at no cost to you, you will be enrolled in:
  • Uniform Dental Plan (UDP) PPO with Employee Only coverage.
  • Employer-Paid Long-Term Disability (LTD) insurance coverage
  • Basic Life insurance ($35,000 coverage)
  • Basic Accidental Death & Dismemberment (AD&D) Insurance ($5,000 coverage).

Your next opportunity to enroll in or change your coverage would be during annual Open Enrollment in November (with a January 1 effective date), or if/when you experience a qualifying Life Event.

• Proceed to the next section to learn about how to enroll your dependents.

  Part 2 – Enrolling Dependents in Your Health Insurance