Plan for your health after retirement

Retiree Health Program

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Please visit the HR COVID-19 webpages for HR information related to the coronavirus and your health, health benefits, and leave.

This program allows retirees to enroll in a UVA Health Plan until eligible for Medicare, or to supplement Medicare with a secondary insurance plan - either Advantage 65 or Advantage 65 – Medical Only.

Who is eligible?

You may join the Retiree Health Benefits Program if:

  • You have worked for the University of Virginia Academic Division or Medical Center for at least five (5) consecutive years directly prior to your retirement; and
  • You are a retiring State employee either:
    • eligible for a monthly annuity from VRS and you start receiving (do not defer) your retirement benefit immediately upon retirement, or 
    • participating in the MCRP or ORP programs and meet the age and service requirements for an immediate retirement benefit under VRS plan that you would have been eligible for on your date of hire had you not elected ORP or MCRP: and 
  • You were eligible for enrollment in the UVA Health Plan on your last day as an active state employee; and
  • You submit an Enrollment/Waiver Form to the HR Solution Center within 30 days of your retirement date;                    

 

  • Long-Term Disability Eligibility

    If you are on long-term disability (LTD), you must meet the following requirements:

    • You are approved for long-term disability through VSDP, the Medical Center Disability Program, or the ORP Disability Program; and
    • You have applied for Social Security Disability; and
    • You submitted an Enrollment/Waiver Form to the HR Solution Center within 30 days of your LTD date.

  • Dependent Eligibility

    Eligible dependents enrolled on your UVA Health Plan policy on your last day as an active state employee can enroll in the Retiree Health Benefits Program.

    If you are not eligible for the Retiree Health Benefits Program, your spouse and dependents are also ineligible.

  • Who is ineligible?

    You (or your  enrolled dependents) will not be eligible if:

    • You waive coverage when you retire;
    • You fail to complete an Enrollment/Waiver Form within 30 days of retirement;
    • You defer retirement when you leave state employment, except for certain involuntarily terminated employees with 20 years of creditable service;
    • You are terminated from the LTD program and are not eligible for service retirement; or
    • You cancel coverage in the Retiree Health Benefits Program.

    Deferring retirement means that you will receive your retirement annuity from the state at a later time, rather than directly after leaving State employment. 

    If you are not eligible for the Retiree Health Benefits program, your spouse and/or dependents are also not eligible. 

Learn about how to enroll and what your options are

  • Learn About How to Enroll

    Plan well in advance. If you do not enroll within 30 days of retirement, you (and your dependents) will not be able to enroll in the future.

    Learn More About How to Enroll

  • What are my Health Plan Options?

    Your retiree health plan options depend on whether you (and your dependents) are eligible for Medicare or not. Learn more about the available options and premiums that you pay.

    Learn more about Retiree Health Plan Options 

  • Who do I contact?

    UVA HR can help with Enrollment form questions; Address/demographic changes; Open Enrollment changes; qualified life events; Plan benefits, claims, or claims appeals; Premium payments; and Health insurance credits.

    Contacts

How do I make changes?

You can reduce membership or cancel coverage prospectively (going forward) at any time. If you cancel coverage you may not re-enroll in the future. 

Both Medicare and Non-Medicare Retirees can make membership level changes due to qualified life events. These include:

  • Marriage
  • Divorce
  • Death of a spouse
  • Birth, adoption, or placement for adoption of a child
  • Death of a covered child
  • Covered child exceeds plan’s age limit
  • Gaining custody of an “other child’
  • Dependent losing eligibility for coverage
  • Gain or loss of eligibility for Medicare or Medicaid
  • Loss of eligibility for government sponsored plan
  • Spouse or covered child begins or ends employment
  • Spouse or covered child begins or ends leave without pay
  • Open enrollment allowed under another employer’s plan

To make changes to your health benefits plan membership, contact a Benefits Counselor at 434.243.3344 or AskHR@virginia.edu

If approved, the change will be effective on the first day of the following month following receipt of the form at the HR Solution Center. 

If the change is made because a dependent has lost eligibility, it will be effective on the first day of the month following loss of eligibility.

Non-Medicare Retirees may also make membership changes for non-Medicare spouses or dependents at open enrollment. Medicare Retirees may only add dependents in the case of a qualified life event.

Play Video

Getting Started with Medicare

A review of Medicare and its parts, as well as what it does and doesn’t do. Also includes questions to ask for when you are first starting on Medicare, and after you have it set up.