Insurance Coverage - Group Health Insurance

Kenyon College is interested in the health and well-being of both you and your family. Accordingly, a comprehensive health insurance program is available for benefit-eligible employees, their spouses, and/or same or opposite-sex domestic partners and their children. Participation in the College's health insurance program is optional and becomes effective on the first day of eligible employment. All active full-time employees of Kenyon College who are regularly working at least 1,000 hours in a twelve-month period are eligible to participate. Open enrollment for health insurance is held annually beginning mid-April though mid-June in order for all changes/enrollments to take effect for the July 1 plan start. Should a life event occur (birth or adoption of a child, marriage or domestic partnership, loss of coverage from another plan, etc.) during the plan year, outside of the open enrollment period, changes or enrollments can be made within 30 days of the event.  In addition, active, full-time, benefits eligible employees may enroll during a special, one-time enrollment period ten years prior to the employee's expected retirement date in order to elect continued participation in the current active employee plan after retirement, up to age 65. (Ex: An employee aged 49 ½ could elect to enroll in Kenyon's plan so their 10-year enrollment requirement would be met at retirement).

Premiums are based on salary levels. Please see the fringe benefit cost sheet on the main Benefits Page for current premiums and rates for participation. If both the employee and the spouse/partner are employed by Kenyon, the higher salary of the two will be used for the calculation of health insurance premiums.

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Enrollment Information for Domestic Partners

As a Kenyon College benefits eligible employee, you may enroll an unmarried same- or opposite-sex domestic partner and/or your domestic partner's child(ren) in the Kenyon College health insurance plan.

To enroll yourself and your domestic partner and/or your domestic partner's child(ren), you must:

1. Complete the regular Medical Plan enrollment form.

2. Complete, sign and have your partner sign the Certification of Domestic Partnership form.

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Definition of a Domestic Partner

Kenyon College defines domestic partner as the partner of an eligible employee or retiree who is of the same or opposite sex, sharing a long-term committed relationship of indefinite duration with the following characteristics:

  • Living together for at least six months.
  • Having an exclusive mutual commitment similar to that of marriage.
  • Financially responsible for each other's well-being and debts to third parties. This means that you have entered into a contractual commitment for that financial responsibility or have joint ownership of significant assets (such as home, car, bank accounts) and joint liability for debts (such as mortgages or credit cards.)
  • Neither partner is married to anyone else nor has another domestic partner.
  • Partners are not related by blood closer than would bar marriage in the state of their residence.

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Eligibility Requirements for Your Domestic Partner's Children

In order for your partner's child to be claimed as a dependent under Kenyon College's plan, the child must meet all of the following requirements:

A. The child(ren) of the employees domestic partner must be the legal tax dependents of the employee under IRS Sec. 152.

Legal tax dependent is defined as follows:

  • is a citizen of the United States, Mexico, Canada, the Canal Zone, or the Republic of Panama;
  • is a member of your household for the year, had his or her principal place of abode in your home for the year;
  • by engaging in the relationship, does not violate local law;
  • receives over half of his or her support for the year from you. Support includes food, shelter, clothing, medical and dental care, and education; and
  • the dependent's gross income must be less than the federal personal exemption amount unless the dependent is under age19 OR a full-time student (enrolled as a full-time student for at least five months during the year), under age 24.

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Change in Family Status

If an employee needs to change his or her coverage due to a change in his or her family status (i.e., marriage or the birth or adoption of a child, addition of a domestic partner, etc.) the employee should contact the Office of Human Resources within thirty-one days of the event.

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Health Insurance During Leaves

Insurance Premium Payment During Leaves of Absence. Kenyon College will continue to pay its share of health insurance premiums for employee coverage and dependent coverage for a maximum of twelve (12) weeks during a family/medical Leave. While you are on any other type of unpaid leave of absence from Kenyon, you may continue your medical insurance through COBRA continuation coverage. Please consult with the Office of Human Resources for details.

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Variable Hour Employees and the ACA (Affordable Care Act)

For variable hour employees who are scheduled to work part-time and are not classified as benefits eligible, the College will monitor hours worked and tracked in the employee’s dedicated attendance tracking system to determine eligibility for health coverage under the ACA. An employee is eligible for health coverage if they work an average of 130 hours per month for a 12 month period. The twelve month period is defined below.

For new employees, hours will be monitored during an initial measurement period which will commence as follows:

  • If hired on the first day of the month, from that 1st day for the succeeding 12 consecutive
    calendar months.
  • If hired on any day other than the first day of the month, from the first day of the
    following month, for the succeeding 12 consecutive calendar months.

For ongoing employees, hours will be monitored during a 12 month standard measurement period in accordance with the calendar year from January 1st through December 31st annually.

Some newly hired employees may experience an overlap between the initial measurement period that has been calculated from their hire date, and the standard measurement period in use for ongoing employees. In this situation, the employee will be evaluated for benefits eligibility under both their initial measurement period and the standard measurement period. See the example below for an employee hired October 1st.

If an employee is determined to be eligible for health benefits under the ACA, an offer of coverage will be made to the employee on the first day of the conclusion of the applicable measurement period for the 12 months following, which is known as the stability period.

Employees who are offered coverage during a stability period, will be re-evaluated for continuing coverage at the end of the stability period based on the prior 12 month standard measurement period.

Note: All variable hour employees who are not already deemed benefits eligible will be evaluated for benefits eligibility period annually under the provisions of the ACA.

Updated November 2016

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Health Insurance at Retirement

When employees retire, they and their eligible dependents may continue enrollment in the College's group health plans subject to the following conditions. The earliest age an employee may retire and keep the health insurance benefits is age 59 ½.

If an employee retires before age 65, they may stay on the Kenyon College health plan and pay the same premiums as active employees if at least ten years of continuous service while enrolled in the health plan prior to the date of retirement were completed. An early retiree may not add a spouse, partner or dependent(s) to the Kenyon College health plan after the date of early retirement. However, if the spouse/partner/dependent(s) of the early retiree was already enrolled in the health plan during the ten consecutive years immediately prior to the date of the employee's early retirement, they may also continue on the plan until the early retiree reaches age 65. COBRA continuation coverage will be offered if the enrollment criteria described above is not met.

Employee retiring at age 65 or older (or when turning 65 having retired early as described above) will be eligible for the Emeriti Health Insurance Plan Options and the Emeriti Reimbursement Benefit if you satisfy the criteria for Retirement Eligibility under the Plan. You have met these criteria if you have attained age 59½ or over while employed by the College with at least 10 years of continuous service or age 65 with at least 5 years of continuous service.

Having met Retirement Eligibility criteria for the Emeriti Plan, you will be able to enroll in the Emeriti Health Insurance following termination of service with the College, attaining age 65, and enrolling in Medicare Part A and B. If your spouse or domestic partner is also age 65 or older and enrolled in Medicare Part A and B, they may also enroll when you do in the same Emeriti Health Insurance Plan Option you have elected. If your spouse or eligible children are not Medicare-eligible, they can enroll in Emeriti's pre-65 Health Insurance Plan Options when you enroll. You will also be able to utilize the Emeriti Reimbursement Benefit to pay for any qualified out-of-pocket medical expenses, including other health insurance, after termination with the College. All of the Emeriti Health Account assets from both your Employer's contributions and your own contributions can be used to pay for these benefits.

Health Insurance for Eligible Dependents After the Death of A Retired Member. In the event of the death of a retired employee who is under the age of 65 and enrolled on the Kenyon College Health Plan, the surviving spouse or domestic partner and eligible dependents may continue to be enrolled for one year from the date of the retiree's death. Coverage will terminate earlier if the surviving spouse remarries or eligible dependents lose their dependent status. Continuation of coverage beyond twelve (12) months is addressed under the section titled COBRA.

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Health Insurance During a Medical Leave of Absence/Short-Term Disability

During an authorized leave of absence for medical reasons, the College will continue to pay its portion of the health insurance premiums if the member continues to receive his/her compensation providing that compensation does not continue beyond twelve (12) months after the member's medical leave began. The member must have been enrolled in the health plan prior to the commencement of the medical leave of absence and the member must continue to pay his/her portion of the premium. Continuation of coverage beyond twelve (12) months is addressed under the section titled COBRA.

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Health Insurance: Total Disability

Disabled employees and their eligible dependents may continue enrollment in the plan at the same contribution levels as active employees for one year (12-months from the date of Disability.) Continuation of coverage beyond twelve (12) months is addressed under the section titled COBRA. To be treated as "disabled," the employee must be certified as totally disabled under the Standard Total Disability Plan and the Social Security Administration or The State of Ohio Worker's Compensation Bureau. If the employee becomes disabled while actively employed but having already met the eligibility requirements to be a retiree or early retiree under the Kenyon Health Plan, they will be covered under those provisions.

revised 1/2017

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Health Insurance for Eligible Dependents After the Death of an Active Employee

In the event of the death of an active employee who was enrolled on Kenyon's health insurance plan, the under-age-65 spouse or domestic partner and eligible dependents may continue to be enrolled for a period of one year from the date of the employee's death at the same contribution levels as active employees.

If any surviving spouse, domestic partner or dependents are over age 65 at the time of the employee's death, they  may be eligible to enroll in one of the Kenyon-Emeriti post-65 medicare advantage plans. Please consult Human Resources for more information.

Coverage will terminate earlier if the surviving spouse remarries or eligible dependents lose their dependent status. Continuation of coverage beyond twelve (12) months is addressed under the section titled COBRA.

updated 11/2019

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Termination of Insurance/Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA)

This federal regulation states that if employees lose health insurance coverage due to a reduction in hours or termination of employment (for reasons other than gross misconduct), they and their eligible dependents can continue that coverage for up to eighteen months from the date of loss of coverage. (In certain situations, such as the covered person's total disability during the first sixty days of the COBRA period, the continuation of coverage would extend up to twenty-nine months.)  The cost for COBRA coverage is 102% of the total health premium (employer contribution + employee contribution) for the plan year.  Rates can be found on the main benefits page.

Your insurance will terminate when the insurance policy terminates, when you fail to make an agreed contribution to premium when due, when you cease to be eligible for coverage under the terms of our group insurance program, when you cease to be eligible for benefits with Kenyon, or when you are no longer employed by Kenyon. Kenyon College may, by continuing to pay the premium, keep your insurance in effect for a brief period if you cease to be an eligible employee for any reason other than resignation, dismissal, or failure to meet the terms of eligibility of our group insurance program.

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