Life and Disability Insurance
Drexel offers the following insurance benefits to benefits-eligible faculty and professional staff and their eligible dependents to help you take care of yourself and provide for your family in case of loss of income. Drexel’s carrier for Life and Disability insurances is Lincoln Financial Group.
Enrollments or changes to these benefits are completed as a new hire, during annual open enrollment, or during a qualifying life event. For more information, log in to DrexelOne, select the Employees Tab, and click on the My Drexel Benefits link.
Paid for by Drexel University
Basic Life Insurance and Accidental Death & Dismemberment (AD&D) Insurance
This benefit provides full-time faculty and professional staff with coverage amounts equal to twice your annual salary, with a maximum benefit of $500,000. For Basic Life Insurance and AD&D, if the volume of your life insurance exceeds $50,000, you have the option of limiting your coverage [PDF] to $50,000 in order to avoid imputed income. The imputed cost of coverage in excess of $50,000 is considered taxable income. The imputed cost, if any, will be shown and taxed on your paycheck. This is a Term Life Insurance benefit and holds no cash value.
If you limit your coverage and then later decide you would like to elect two times your annual salary, you will then be required to complete the online Evidence of insurability with Lincoln Financial before the request is processed. This is completed in your My Drexel Benefits enrollment portal.
What is imputed income? Currently, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) says that if an employee receives employer-paid life insurance over $50,000, the value of the coverage is "imputed income" and is taxable. The amount of your imputed income depends on the amount of excess of $50,000 and your age. Imputed income increases your taxable gross income for federal and state income taxes as well as for Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA, Social Security and Medicare) taxes withheld from your paycheck. Your imputed income is reported on your annual W-2 Form, which you file with the IRS each year. For additional information concerning imputed income, please visit the IRS website.
You must designate a beneficiary for your life insurance, which can be done online in your My Drexel Benefits portal; see Beneficiary Designation FAQs [PDF] for assistance with how to navigate designating your preferred beneficiary.
Please review the Basic Life and AD&D Benefits at a Glance [PDF] and/or Lincoln Financial Life Insurance Policy [PDF] for clarity on what this plan offers.
Long-term Disability Coverage
Long-term disability coverage is a university-paid benefit provided to full-time faculty and professional staff members that is equal to 60 percent of your monthly salary following completion of a 90-day elimination period. This program carries a monthly maximum benefit of $20,000. You do not need to enroll and there is no cost to you. However, you will see the premiums for this benefit are paid as a post-tax deduction through your paycheck, to allow you to receive a pre-tax benefit should you go out on disability. Please review the Long-term Disability Benefits at a Glance [PDF] and/or the applicable Long-term Disability policies below for clarity on what this plan offers.
Business Travel Accident Insurance
If an employee is injured during business travel, this benefit provides an amount equal to your annual salary and carries a minimum benefit of $100,000 and a maximum benefit of $500,000. More information about this benefit can be read in the following overview documents:
Paid for by the Employee
Short-Term Disability Coverage
Short-term disability is an employee-paid, voluntary benefit, insured through the Designated Insurance Carrier. Deductions are taken on a post-tax basis so that if you are in receipt of the benefit, the income is considered non-taxable.
The benefit provides income continuation to faculty and professional staff members who are unable to work for a continuous period of more than 14 days due to a non-work-related illness or injury, which prevents the performance of normal duties of their position.
In order to access this benefit, election must be made into one of two short-term disability benefit plans for the plan year in which a disability commences — either during annual open enrollment or as a new hire. There is no life event that will allow an employee to enroll in either of these plans.
The cost of the benefit depends on your salary and coverage amount. Cost will be reflected for each option in the enrollment system. Both options have very similar plan structure, except for the elimination period:
- Standard Option: benefits kick in on day 31 of the approved disability
- Enhanced Option: benefits kick in on day 15 of an approved disability
An employee cannot enroll in both plans.
For more information, please review the resources below:
Supplemental Life Insurance
This option provides you with the opportunity to elect supplemental or optional Group Term Life Insurance for yourself, your spouse and your dependent children (no one may be covered more than once under this plan). Note that you do not have to elect coverage for yourself as an employee in order to elect spouse and/or dependent child coverage, but they do need to be verified dependents in the enrollment system in order to do so. You may elect one, two, three or four times your annual salary in coverage up to a maximum benefit of $2,500,000. Spousal coverage of up to $150,000 and dependent child coverage of $5,000 or $10,000 is also available. These policies hold no cash value.
Please review the Optional Life Benefits at a Glance [PDF] and/or the Lincoln Financial Life Insurance Policy [PDF] for clarity on what this plan offers.
Supplemental Accidental Death & Dismemberment (AD&D) Insurance
Benefits-eligible employees can enroll in supplemental or optional AD&D Insurance for themselves as well as their spouse/partner and/or dependent children. Note that you do not have to elect coverage for yourself as an employee in order to elect spouse and/or dependent child coverage, but they do need to be verified dependents in the enrollment system in order to do so.
Please review the Optional AD&D Benefits at a Glance [PDF] and/or the Lincoln Financial Life Insurance Policy [PDF] for clarity on what this plan offers.