Benefits Questions

• Turning age 65 does not affect your benefits. There is no reduction in your health premium nor is this a qualifying event to add or cancel benefits.
• You are not required to enroll in Medicare, Part A or B if you and/or your spouse are covered under a group policy through active employment.

• You will need to submit an appeal. Please see UW System’s Annual Benefit Enrollment Appeals document for instructions on how to submit an appeal. It can take up to 1 month to hear if the appeal was approved. This notification will come via email.
• For additional questions please reach out to the benefits contact listed on the Client Group Assignments webpage.

UW System Family Changes

UW System Life Events

UW System Family Changes

Worker’s Compensation Toolkit

• Health or Dental: Contact the appropriate provider as given in the It’s Your Choice Decision Guide which can be found at Wisconsin Department of Employee Trust Funds.
• VSP Vision: No card is issued. Identify yourself as a University of Wisconsin employee and provide your employee ID number (8 digit number beginning with 2 or 3 zeroes, found at the top center of your earnings statement).
• Navitus (pharmacy)
  • Phone: (866) 333-2757
  • Online: https://www.navitus.com

• Phone: (877) 533-5020
• Online: https://etf.wi.gov

Please see the Employee Assistance Program webpage for contact information.

• You would not want to enroll in Medicare Part B until right before you retire. Consult your Benefits Specialist at that time. There is a monthly fee for Medicare Part B, and it would be considered secondary coverage to your employee health plan.
• If you are in a regular health plan, you may wish to enroll in Medicare Part A. Medicare Part A is at no cost, and though considered secondary coverage to your employee health plan, it may add coverage in instances of hospitalization or rehabilitation.
• If you wish to remain enrolled in a High Deductible Health Plan, no. If you enroll in Medicare Part A, you will no longer be eligible to participate in the high deductible plan–the state will require you to attest that you have not enrolled, or it will switch you to your High Deductible Health Plan’s regular counterpart.

Benefits Review Schedule

• UW System: How To Enroll
• UW System: Employee Benefits Packages

Please see The Center for International Education (CIE) International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS) website.

UW-Shared Services: Benefits Enrollment Walkthrough

• If you are a new employee to the UW System, it is possible your job record is still in process of being entered in the employment system. If you do not see the enrollment link within 3 weeks of your date of hire, submit paper enrollment forms to the Benefits office, so you do not miss your deadline to enroll within 30 days.
• If you are newly benefits-eligible, but not a new employee to the UW System, you will not receive an online benefits enrollment link. Instead, submit paper enrollment forms to the Benefits office, so you do not miss your deadline to enroll within 30 days of becoming eligible.

Optum Financial/ConnectYourCare Portal

You will know that you are benefit eligible as a Graduate Assistant/Short Term Academic Staff if you are in one of the following employment categories:

Student Assistant

You must be in one of the following titles: Research assistant, Fellow, Advanced Opportunity Fellow, Scholar, Trainee, Teaching Assistant, project Assistant or Program Assistant and be expected to work at least 33% of the time:

*For at least six months if you are a 12 month employee or at least one semester if you area nine month employee

Employees in Training

You must be in one of the following titles: Grad intern/Trainee, Postdoc Fellow, Postdoc Trainee, Postgrad Trainee (1-7), Intern (non-physician), Reseach Intern or Research Associate, and be expected to work at least 33% of the time:

*For at least six months if you are a 12 month employee o for at least one semester if you are a nine month employee

Short Term Academic Staff

If not covered under the WRS, you are eligible for insurance benefits if you are expected to work:

*At least 21% for at least six month if you are 12 month employee or at least 28% for at least one semester if you area nine month employee

No, you do not have to have your SSN to apply for benefits as a UWM employee. We discourage employees from listing their SSN on forms sent via email. You can most certainly start the benefits process without an SSN in place.

At UWM we have an inbox where you can submit any questions. The email address is benefits@uwm.edu and the appropriate benefit specialist will reply to your request.

Our UWM benefits website has a wealth of info regarding your benefits. You can visit Benefits Reviews and see the latest benefit review sessions, review benefit summaries for your applicable employment category and view a video recording of a benefit presentation.

You have 30 days from your date of hire to enroll in benefits. You can typically complete this online through the employee portal if you have never worked for another WRS employer or UWM in the past. If you have worked for UWM in the past or another WRS employer, then you have to complete paper forms. All new employees receive an email from the benefits team that outline your deadline for enrolling in benefits and provides links to all benefit enrollment forms.

Your benefits are effective the first of the month on or following the date of employment or date of obtaining a benefits-eligible job. For example, if you begin benefit eligible employment on 4/2 then your benefits go into effect 5/1.

If you are within your 30-day window, then you can let your benefits specialist know and we can have you fill out an updated paper form and get that submitted on your behalf. If you are outside of your 30-day initial enrollment window then unfortunately you cannot make any changes to your benefit elections unless you have a qualifying life event.

View Benefit Enrollment Confirmation

Examples of qualifying life events that would allow you to change your benefit elections outside of open enrollment are marriage, birth, adoption, loss of other coverage or moving out of state. Please speak with a benefits specialist for a full list of all qualifying life events.

You will see deductions for benefit premiums on the first two checks of any given month. This equates to 24 pay periods per year.

You should review the benefits summary for grad students available here grad.pdf (wisconsin.edu). UWM offers two types of plans. The ACCESS plan is more expensive but offers nationwide coverage and the regular health plan provides local coverage for Wisconsin and limited coverage in surrounding states.

UWM offers 4 dental plans.

1. Uniform dental is offered if you choose to elect a state group health plan. It covers routine evaluations, cleanings, sealants, s-rays, fillings and periodontal maintenance. Please see the benefit summary for an exhaustive list and costs run between $3 (individual plan) and $10 for (spouse/family plan)
2. Preventative Dental is dental insurance that is only available if you decline state group health insurance and covers the same items as Uniform Dental
3. Select Dental and Select Plus Plans are supplementary dental insurances that provide additional coverage for crowns, bridges, implants, root canals and braces. A good rule of thumb is that the higher the cost per month for the plan, the lower the deductible is and the higher the annual maximum is. Please see the table below for a breakdown on costs monthly for employees for 2024.

Please utilize this link for a detailed breakdown of plan costs grad.pdf (wisconsin.edu)

The State Group Health insurance covers a vision exam. UWM also offers full vision insurance that’s administered by Deltavision/Eyemed that would cover routine things like glasses/contacts. Please visit the following link for a detailed breakdown of vision costs. grad.pdf (wisconsin.edu)

• Individuals categorized as student assistants and short-term academic staff can enroll in the FSA (flexible spending account). Fellows, scholars, trainees, grad interns/trainees and post-doctoral fellows/trainees cannot.
• An FSA gives you the opportunity to pay certain health care, dependent day care and parking/transit expense with tax free dollars. You are in control of how much you contribute. 1/1-12/31 is the plan year for FSA’s and some funds may be eligible to roll over. You cannot roll over dependent care funds. You must re-enroll in the FSA yearly.

• UWM offers a 403B (Supplemental Retirement program and 457 (WI Differed Compensation program). Fellows, scholars, trainees, Grad. interns/trainees or post-doctoral fellow/trainees aren’t eligible to participate. You can enroll immediately.
• 403B-The providers that manage this are Fidelity and TIAA and a number of investment options are available including target date funds, index and guaranteed fixed rate annuity.
• 457-This account is managed by ETF through a provider called Empower. There a number of mixed investment options similar to what is listed for the 403b. Listed below are the 2024 contribution limits.

* You may contribute the annual maximum to the SRP and WDC plans. Catch-up contributions may be available, if eligible.