Benefits Strategy

Feb. 2026: Understanding Short- and Long-Term Disability Insurance

Planning ahead and understanding your benefits can help you feel more prepared for the unexpected. In this month’s Benefits Spotlight, we’re focusing on Short-Term Disability (STD) and Long-Term Disability (LTD) insurances.

Disability insurance is optional and employee-paid, but it can play an important role in protecting your income during a medical leave of absence when you are unable to work. Both STD and LTD include a waiting period and are designed to replace a portion of your income (not your full paycheck) after that waiting period.

Short-Term Disability (STD) helps replace income during shorter-term medical absences, such as recovery from surgery, illness, or childbirth.

Long-Term Disability (LTD) provides income protection if you are unable to work for a longer period of time due to serious illness, injury, or disability. WVU offers two LTD options, and employees may enroll in only one. LTD is designed to protect your income if you are unable to return to work for an extended period after STD coverage ends, though enrollment in STD is not required to be enrolled in LTD.

Interested in enrolling? Making changes to your benefits is easy during the annual Open Enrollment (OE) period. OE typically begins in April and is the only time of year outside of a qualifying life event that you can add or drop most benefits, including STD and LTD.  To help ensure you’re enrolled in the disability coverage that best fits your needs, we encourage you to:

• Review your current elections. The easiest way to view your benefits is by reviewing benefit deductions on your pay statement and referencing the Benefits On Your Pay Statement chart.
• Explore the Disability Insurances offered in greater detail.
• View your leave balances.

Mar. 2026: Get Ready for Open Enrollment

WVU Employee Benefits Open Enrollment begins April 2, which is the only time employees can make changes to most benefits without a qualifying life event. To prepare, these simple steps can help you confidently select the benefit options that work best for you once Open Enrollment begins.

Review your current benefit elections. This is a great time to review your current benefit enrollments. The easiest way to view your benefits is by reviewing benefit deductions on your pay statement and referencing the Benefits On Your Pay Statement chart.

 Check your benefit portal login credentials. WVU employees make most Open Enrollment benefit changes in two benefit administrator portals: The Public Employees Insurance Agency (PEIA) Manage My Benefits portal for health and life insurance and the Mountaineer Flexible Benefits portal for dental, vision, and many other coverages. Save time during Open Enrollment by checking your login credentials now or registering if you have not accessed these portals before. You may have different credentials for each portal.

Ensure your information is up-to-date. The information PEIA has on file for you and your dependents can affect your premiums and coverage. Take time now to confirm that your information is correct in PEIA’s portal.

• Spousal Coverage – If you are enrolled in family health coverage, PEIA is required by WV law to apply a monthly spousal surcharge to your premium if your spouse is offered health coverage other than PEIA through their employer and has elected PEIA instead. If your spouse’s coverage offering has changed, you must report the change by updating your Spousal Surcharge Affidavit.
• Tobacco Status – A tobacco-free premium discount is offered to policyholders who verify through a tobacco affidavit that they and any enrolled dependents have been tobacco-free for six months. If your or any dependent’s tobacco status has changed, you must update your status in PEIA’s Manage My Benefits portal.
• Coordination of Benefits – Coordination of benefits is a practice insurance companies use to avoid double or duplicate payments or coverage of service when a person is covered by more than one insurance policy. UMR (PEIA's third-party administrator) requires all employee policyholders that cover dependents to verify other coverage every plan year by logging into UMR.com to create an account, or access an existing account, or calling 1-888-440-7342.

Consider your unique situation. Perhaps you have a medical procedure planned for the fall, or you may want to add or drop a dependent to your coverage without a qualifying life event. Considering your plans and circumstances for the upcoming year now can help you select the best options for your unique situation during Open Enrollment.