Pretax Premium Program
What's the advantage to pretax premiums?
You will automatically pay required contributions for health and welfare plan benefits from your salary on a pretax basis. Any allowable premiums for SDSU Research Foundation–sponsored coverage you have selected will be deducted each pay period from your salary before federal income taxes, state income taxes, and Social Security taxes are calculated and deducted. As a result, you are taxed on a lower amount of pay and you save on taxes (depending upon your pay level).
Do pretax premiums affect my other benefits?
The pretax premium advantage does not impact your TIAA–CREF retirement or any other pretax contributions you make. However, depending upon your salary, it may slightly reduce your Social Security benefits at retirement because you have paid Social Security taxes on a lower wage. For most employees, the current value of your tax savings outweighs the potential impact on future Social Security benefits.
What about adding and dropping coverage for myself or my dependents?
Due to the tax advantages of making pretax premium contributions, you can add or drop coverage for yourself or your dependents, or change your pretax election/declination only once a year during Open Enrollment, or within 31 days of a change in family status. A family status change occurs if:
- You get married, legally separated, or divorced
- Registration or dissolution of a domestic partnership
- You experience a birth or adoption of a child, or a change in a child"s custody
- Birth of a grandchild to an eligible dependent
- Your spouse, your domestic partner, or dependent dies
- There is a loss of dependent status
- You, or your spouse, or your domestic partner, has a change in employment status that effects benefits coverage (new employment, end of employment, change from full–time to part time employment (or vice versa), or an unpaid leave of absence), retirement
- Through a court order
- Addition of a step child or legal ward
- A change in residence, such as moving out of the coverage area for insurance purposes
- A substantial change in coverage or cost of coverage
- You or a dependent are covered under Medicaid or CHIP Plan and coverage is terminated as a result of the loss of eligibility for Medicaid or CHIP coverage; or
- You or a dependent becomes eligible for premium assistance, to purchase coverage under SDSU Research Foundation's Group Medical Plan under the applicable state Medicaid or CHIP Plan
A 60 day reporting window is permissible for the last two mid-year status changes only.