Plan for your health after retirement

Retiree Health Program

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?

Join the Retiree Health Benefits Program even if you were not enrolled in the UVA Health Plan as an active employee. You must have been eligible for the Health Plan on your last day as an active state employee, and not have been terminated from the health plan due to lack of payment.

To enroll, you must meet all of the following requirements:

  • You worked for UVA Academic Division or Medical Center for at least 5 consecutive years directly prior to your retirement.
  • You are a retiring state employee, eligible for a monthly annuity from VRS or a periodic benefit from the MCRP or ORP programs.
  • You submitted 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.
    • You have applied for Social Security Disability.
    • 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 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.
    • You cancel coverage in the Retiree Health Benefits Program.

    Deferring retirement means you receive your retirement annuity at a later time.

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; Annual 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 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
  • Annual 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.

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.