Split Plans

Retirees who have spouse as an active Penn State employee

Retirees who carry a spouse who will remain actively employed by Penn State, will need to remove their spouse from their benefits as per Penn State policy, retirees must be covered via retiree medical benefits and active employees must be covered under the active employee coverage. Prior to retiring, you will need to complete a Retiree Request for Change Form to remove spouse upon your retirement. Your spouse must log into Workday to request enrollment in the Penn State active plan.

Note: Active spouses can add the retiring employee to dental and vision.

Split Plans – Retiree With Medicare and Non-Medicare Members Enrolled

Once a retiree and/or spouse becomes Medicare eligible and the remaining spouse is under 65, your benefits then become a “split plan” retirement medical plan.  

The newly Medicare eligible retiree or spouse will be transitioned to the University-sponsored Medicare Advantage plan Freedom Blue with Highmark. The Freedom Blue Member will receive a new ID card from Highmark.

The remaining dependents will stay with Highmark and new ID cards will be issued as follows:

  1. Penn State retiree moves to Highmark with non-Medicare spouse
    • Spouse will remain with Highmark and become the primary subscriber under Highmark insurance.
    • Covered dependent children under the age of 26 will become dependents listed under the new primary subscriber.
    • A new ID card with new Member ID will be sent after the effective date.*
  2. Penn State retiree moves to Highmark with non-Medicare child/ren (no spouse coverage)
    • Dependent child/ren remain with Highmark and the oldest covered child under the age of 26 becomes the primary subscriber under Highmark insurance.
    • Any younger sibling(s) will be listed as dependent(s) under the oldest child.
    • A new ID card with new Member ID will be sent after the effective date.*
  3. Penn State retiree remains on Highmark with Medicare-eligible spouse
    • Retiree will receive a new ID card based on the tier change, but the Member ID will remain the same.
    • Spouse will receive a new Highmark Freedom Blue card.

*Should you need to call the vendor to inquire about benefits, members should provide the new primary subscriber’s information such as SSN and date of birth.

Changes will be electronically sent to the insurance vendors and to the retiree billing vendor. It is recommended you pay your quarterly bill as invoiced and the appropriate credits will follow once the retiree billing vendor receives the changes.