Medical Spousal Surcharge

The medical spousal surcharge is applied to medical plan premiums for faculty and staff if their spouse, Registered Domestic Partner (RDP), or Grandfathered Legally Domiciled Adult (GF LDA) has any type of medical coverage available through his/her employer but is nevertheless covered under a USF medical plan.

Please review the information below to learn more about the surcharge.

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This is a $75/month surcharge that you pay in addition to your employee contribution to your USF Medical Plan. The surcharge is paid through payroll deductions.

You pay the Medical Spousal Surcharge if you meet both conditions:

  1. You are covering your spouse/registered domestic partner (RDP)/Grandfathered Legally Domiciled Adult (GF LDA) under a USF Medical Plan (i.e. Anthem PPO or Kaiser HMO)
  2. Your spouse/RDP/GF LDA has access to medical coverage through their employer (regardless of whether they are enrolled in this coverage or not).
  • When completing your benefits elections task in USFWorks, regardless of whether the Medical Spousal Surcharge applies to you, you need to open the Medical – Spousal Surcharge Benefit ‘card’.
  • On the next page, click Select (not Waive), then Confirm and Continue. On the following page, select the option which applies to you from the drop-down menu. For further information, see pages 4-5 of the New Hire job aid.

Yes. You will recertify (i.e. reconfirm) whether the Medical Spousal Surcharge applies to you each year during Open Enrollment on your Open Enrollment task in USFWorks.

The Medical Spousal Surcharge does not apply if both you and your spouse/registered domestic partner are USF employees. In this case, please select the option No, my spouse or registered domestic partner does not have access to other coverage.

The Medical Spousal Surcharge does not apply if your spouse/registered domestic partner’s other coverage is through an individual market plan*, Medi-Cal (Medicaid) or Medicare. In this case, please select the option No, my spouse or registered domestic partner does not have access to other coverage.

*“Individual market plans” include plans sold in Federal or State Exchanges or outside of Exchanges in the individual insurance market. Ex. Covered California

If your spouse/RDP gains/loses their other medical coverage through their employer and they will remain on your USF medical plan, you have 30 calendar days to submit a Gain/Loss of Coverage Elsewhere task in USFWorks. On the task, you only need to update the selected option for the 'Medical Spousal Surcharge' and then submit it. You will need to upload proof of your spouse/RDP's gain/loss of medical coverage through their employer during this process. Once you have submitted the task, the change to your selected option for the 'Medical Spousal Surcharge' will be effective on 1st of the month following the date of your spouse/RDP's gain/loss of coverage. Learn how to complete this task.
 
If more than 30 calendar days have passed since your spouse/RDP gained/lost their other medical coverage through their employer, please contact the Benefits Team at benefits@usfca.edu for additional instructions prior to submitting the task, as the change to your selected option for the 'Medical Spousal Surcharge' can only be made going forward (i.e. to be effective on 1st of the month following your email notification to the Benefits Team).