AccessTufts 2019 Benefits Information
Basic and Supplemental Life Insurance
Prudential Insurance Company of America has been selected as the University’s Life, Long Term Disability and Accidental Death and Dismemberment vendor. Prudential Insurance Company of America is an A-Rated Insurance company that offers the most competitive pricing and enhanced benefits.
Basic Life Insurance
Tufts University provides Basic Life Insurance for all benefits eligible employees through Prudential. This benefit is paid for by the University. The amount of coverage is equal to one times your annual base salary, rounded to the next highest $1,000, with a maximum of $1,000,000, except that coverage is limited at age 70 and up- see below.
Amount Limit Due to Age: When you are age 70 or more, your amount of insurance is limited. It is the Limited Percent (for that Age) of the amount for which you would then be insured if there were no limitation. Each Age and the Limited Percent for that Age are shown below.
Age Limited Percent
70 65
75 45
80 30
85 and more 25
The Limited Percent for an Age takes effect on the day you become insured if you are then that Age. Otherwise, each Limited Percent for an Age takes effect on the Employer’s payroll date, coinciding with or next following the Employee’s birthday. Payroll dates are the 1st and 15th of the month forsalaried employees, and each Friday for hourly employees.
Supplemental Life Insurance
The Supplemental Life Insurance program through Prudential offers you the opportunity to purchase additional life insurance coverage up to five (5) times your annual base salary or a $2,000,000 maximum. Amounts in excess of the lesser of 3 times your annual base salary or $750,000 require Evidence of Insurability. Supplemental Life Insurance can only be elected during the university's open enrollment period or within the first 31 days of your date of hire or if you have an eligible Qualified Status Change See Eligibility Section below.
- As a new hire or newly benefits eligible employee, you can elect the lesser of 3X basic annual earnings or $750,000 of coverage without Evidence of Insurability. You may also request to elect 4X or 5X basic annual earnings with the submission of Evidence of Insurability information. Once Tufts Support Services has received approval from Prudential, we will start your payroll deductions retroactive to your hire date. See Evidence of Insurability for more information.
- If you do not elect Supplemental or Dependent life when initially eligible or if you want to increase your coverage, you can request these changes if you experience an eligible Qualified Status Change or at any subsequent annual Open Enrollment by submitting Evidence of Insurability information to apply for the increase in coverage. Once you and the Benefits Office receive application approval from Prudential, payroll deductions will begin on the 1st of the month following approval or January 1st if an application is submitted and approved by December 31st at Open Enrollment. See Evidence of Insurability for more information.
*The premium for this plan is based upon your age as of the end of each pay period. As a result, your deduction amount may change after your next birthday.
To calculate rates for 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, make sure to multiple the annual salary by the # of times you would like to purchase.
Example: Employee Age = 60 Annual Salary = $40,000.
For a Supplement of 1 times: (40,000/$1,000) x $0.413 = $16.52/month or $198.24/yr
For a Supplement of 2 times: [(2 x 40,000) /$1,000] x $0.413 = $33.04/month or $396.48/yr
For a Supplement of 3 times: [(3 x 40,000) /$1,000] x $0.413 = $49.56/month or $594.72/yr
and so on.
DEPENDENT LIFE INSURANCE
In addition to coverage for yourself, you can also enroll in Supplemental Life Insurance for your eligible family members, including:
- Your legal spouse or domestic partner
- Unmarried dependent children who are at least 15 days old, but under age 26
- Unmarried dependent children who are mentally or physically disabled, or who cannot support themselves due to a handicap
These coverages are guarantee issue to you as a new hire, which means you do not have to complete an evidence of insurability form and apply for coverage, you can just enroll.
If you choose coverage for your spouse or domestic partner, you will need to apply using a Prudential Short Form Health Statement during a subsequent annual open enrollment period. Supplemental Child Life Insurance does not require the Short Form Health Statement.
In the event you receive a claim payout, the payout you receive would not be taxable since these coverages are paid with after-tax payroll deductions.
Click here for the Rate Chart that shows Dependent Life cost per month in the bottom right (2018 rate chart)
Please note that the amount of your dependent coverage for a spouse or domestic partner cannot exceed your Basic and Supplemental Life coverage as an employee. For example, if your base annual salary is $40,000 and you only have basic life insurance (which is one times your salary), you cannot enroll in the $50,000 benefit for your spouse, unless you also enroll in one times your salary for supplemental life. Your total coverage (basic plus supplemental) must be equal to or greater than your spousal coverage.
Note: Prudential has a streamlined approach for making decisions regarding Evidence of Insurability applications. Once the Benefits Office has received approval from Prudential, payroll deductions will begin retroactive to your hire date or approval date, whichever is later.
ELIGIBILITY: If you do not enroll within 31 days of the date you are first eligible, you will not be able to enroll until the next annual open enrollment, unless you experience a Qualified Status Change. See Change in Benefits Election after Change in Life Status (Qualified Status Changes, but specifically, you may change your supplemental life and dependent life insurance if you experience a qualified status change that relates to one of the following events:
- ? Events that change your legal marital or Domestic Partnership status (including marriage, commencement of Qualified Domestic Partner relationship (as evidenced by filing an Affidavit of Qualified Domestic Partnership), divorce, legal separation, annulment or the death of your Spouse, or termination of a Qualified Domestic Partner relationship); or
- ? Events that change the number of your dependents (including birth, adoption or placement for adoption, or the death of a dependent, including a Domestic Partner).
All active, regular employees at the University are eligible, provided that you are one of the following, See pages 5-8 of the Summary Plan Description for Benefits Eligible Employees for full Eligibility information for Staff, Faculty, Dependents, and Retirees.
- an exempt or non-exempt employee regularly scheduled to work 17.5 hours or more a week, with a minimum 90 days employment period; or
- a faculty member with at least a half time (as determined by the academic department), two semester appointment
- a party to a job share contract (a job share contract is any contractual arrangement under which two employees, who each normally work at least 17.5 hours per week , fulfill the responsibilities of one job in accordance with the University’s job sharing policy and all personnel policies and procedures then in effect)
Making Changes to Beneficiaries - click here and follow the path noted.
Vendor Contact Information
The Prudential Insurance Company of America
80 Livingston Avenue
Roseland, New Jersey 07068888-257-0412
A claim should be made without delay. Please contact Tufts Support Services at 617-627-7000 to initiate the claims process. See also Death in the Family and Changes to Benefits on Access Tufts.
NOTE: insurance coverage under $50,000 is not taxable. The amount of the insurance coverage above $50,000 is taxable according to an IRS schedule. This is delineated by an asterisk on a pay statement.
Please see Life Insurance on AccessTufts as well as the Summary Plan Description, for more information on the life insurance plans offered to eligible employees at Tufts.