Eligible Employees
You are eligible to participate in the State of Iowa’s benefit programs if you are either a permanent (non-temporary) or probationary employee.
Employees who work at least 20 hours a week are eligible to participate in the following benefits:
- Health Insurance
- Dental Insurance
- Flexible Spending Accounts; and
- Retirement Investors’ Club (RIC)*
Employees who work at least 30 hours a week are also eligible to participate in the following additional benefits:
- Life Insurance; and
- Long-Term Disability Insurance
* Eligibility requirements do not apply to employees who are eligible for RIC’s tax-sheltered annuity program or to employees who have a fixed annual salary.
If you have questions about your eligibility for benefits please see your Human Resources Associate. If you are on leave without pay for any reason, you should check with your Human Resources Associate to see what benefits you are eligible to continue and to ensure that appropriate payments are being made.
Eligible Family Members
Eligible family members for health and dental insurance coverage are:
- Your spouse (A husband or wife as the result of a marriage that is legally recognized in Iowa. This does not include a spouse from whom you are legally separated or divorced.)
- Your domestic partner (same sex or opposite sex) ( Domestic partners for SPOC-covered employees are not eligible for health and dental insurance coverage.)
- Your children
Children
A child is:
- A biological child
- A child placed with you for adoption or a legally adopted child
- A child for whom you have legal guardianship
- A stepchild
- A foster child
- A biological child a court orders to be covered
You may be required to provide documentation that a dependent is eligible as defined above.
Children Eligibility
Child through the end of the year turning age 26
Your child may be covered for health and dental insurance through the end of the year in which he/she turns age 26. The child under age 26 can be:
- A student or non-student
- Live in Iowa or outside Iowa
- Be unmarried or married (a dependent's spouse is not eligible for coverage)
Child older than age 26
An unmarried, full-time student in an accredited institution of postsecondary education may be covered for health and dental insurance regardless of age pending approval of qualified certification from DAS-HRE. The employee must complete the Full-time Student Certification Form.
- These students are eligible for coverage through the end of the month in which they marry or are no longer full-time students.
- Undergraduate students qualify as full-time if carrying 12 credit hours per semester. Graduate students must carry 9 hours per semester to be considered full-time.
- Additional information may be found here: Full Time Student Certification
Child totally and permanently disabled
An unmarried child who is totally and permanently disabled may be enrolled in health and dental insurance regardless of age (The disability must have existed before the child, while an eligible dependent, turned age 26 or while a full-time student.) By age 29, Medicare coverage or SSI disability will be required to maintain active coverage. The employee must complete the Certification of Dependent Disability.
Totally and permanently disabled (physically or mentally) is defined as: claimed as a dependent on the employee’s, plan member’s, subscriber’s, policyholder’s, or retiree’s tax return; and enrolled in and receiving Medicare disability benefits or enrolled in and receiving current SSI recipient due to disability.
Additional information may be found here: Disabled Dependent Certification
The Department of Administrative Services – Human Resources Enterprise is providing this information about the State of Iowa’s benefits. The information on this web page is subject to change. Nothing herein shall be construed as a guarantee of benefits. This webpage is not a complete description of the State of Iowa’s benefit plans. Nothing on this web page supersedes or changes any of the terms and conditions of any plan documents, insurance policies, or other legal agreements. If the wording in this web page contradicts any plan documents, laws, regulations, administrative rules, insurance policies, or other legal agreements, the wording in the official documents and agreements will govern.