What Is the Personal Healthcare Fund?
Not a separate account, and not insurance — a designated slice of savings you already have, plus one genuinely useful bonus most people don't know about.
💬 GLP Retirement MinuteThe Basics
The PHF isn't its own account — it's a portion of the contributions already going into your 401(k) and 457 plans: 2% from you, matched 2% by your employer.
Vesting follows the same graded schedule as your general savings match: 50% at 2 years, 75% at 3, 100% at 4.
In retirement, you apply for reimbursement of qualified medical expenses through ORS, up to your available credit.
If you have at least 10 years of service when you terminate employment, you get a one-time additional employer contribution into a Health Reimbursement Account — on top of everything you've already saved.
If you're age 60 or older when you terminate employment
If you're younger than 60 when you terminate employment
PHF members are not eligible for subsidized insurance through the retirement system. You can still enroll in retirement-system plans, but you pay the full premium — the PHF helps you pay for coverage, it doesn't discount it.
See What Is the MPSERS Premium Subsidy? for the older, insurance-based track this replaced for anyone hired on or after September 4, 2012.
The Personal Healthcare Fund trades a subsidized insurance plan for a self-directed fund plus a modest cash bonus — genuinely useful, but it puts more responsibility on you to plan for healthcare costs than the older Premium Subsidy model did.