Growing Your Family
Supporting your next chapter.
Whether you’re welcoming a partner or child, your benefits are here to help you navigate each step with ease.
When your family grows, your benefits play an important role in helping you stay supported and prepared. From updating your coverage to using family-building resources, parental leave, and childcare support, you have access to tools that help you navigate these changes with clarity. Explore what’s available to you as you move into this new chapter in your life.
Updating Your Benefits
When you have a new a spouse, partner, or child, you can update your benefits within 31-days of the qualifying life event.
How You’re Supported
- Add new dependents.
- Update your beneficiaries.
- Change coverage to reflect your growing household.
Adding a Dependent
If you add a dependent to your coverage, you must submit supporting documentation, such as a marriage and/or birth certificate, to show your dependent’s relationship to you.
How You’re Supported
- Walks you through what documentation you may need and how to upload it.
- Makes the steps easy and straightforward to help you upload the required documentation.
Medical Plan Assistance
Included Health offers a personalized care navigation service to help you understand your options for family planning and fertility care, and the coverage available to you if you’re enrolled in a Caltech medical plan.
How You’re Supported
- Receive personalized guidance on benefits and costs.
- Identify in-network providers as you explore your family-building journey.
Anthem Concierge
If you have an Anthem medical plan, you have access to a personal health advocate providing one-on-one support for family planning and fertility-related questions.
How You’re Supported
- Makes it easier to navigate coverage and estimate costs.
- Receive assistance finding specialists and coordinating care.
Reproductive and Adoption Assistance
LegalShield’s network of law firms provides personal legal services in all areas of the law, including reproductive and adoption services.
How You’re Supported
- Coverage includes advice, consultation, and document review on reproductive matters, including surrogacy, egg, sperm, gamete and embryo donation, and embryo adoption with representation available at a 25% discount from provider attorney’s standard hourly rate.
- Receive advice, consultation, document review, and representation for an adoption of a minor in the United States for you and, if applicable, your spouse.
Time Off and Leave Benefits
You have time off options, including vacation, sick leave, and parental leave, to take care of your growing family.
How You’re Supported
- Gives you time to care for and bond with a newborn or newly adopted or placed child.
Medical Plans
Your medical coverage provides care for you and your growing family, from preventive visits to specialized services.
How You’re Supported
- Access to in-network providers, including for maternity and pediatric care.
- Provides you with resources to help you stay healthy through every stage of family life.
Please note: For 2026, California passed SB 729 that expanded coverage starting Jan. 1, 2026, under our Kaiser HMO and Anthem HMO plans. If you have one of these plans, please contract your insurance company for more information.
Prescription Drug Coverage
With any of Caltech’s medical plans, you automatically have access to prescription drug coverage to help you manage medications for yourself and your family.
How You’re Supported
- Easily fill prescriptions.
- Use mail-order options for convenience and cost savings.
- Compare costs of medications to help you save money.
Dental and Vision Care
Your dental and vision plans help you maintain essential preventive care for yourself and your family.
How You’re Supported
- Offers routine checkups and exams.
- Provides corrective care to support long-term oral and eye health.
Childcare
From backup care to ongoing support, you have access to childcare options that help you balance work and family life.
How You’re Supported
- Discounted childcare options.
- Receive up to $5,000 for dependent children 12 years of age and younger, if certain eligibility requirements are met.
- Access to subsidized backup childcare when your regular childcare is not available due to an unplanned circumstance.
Mental Wellness: Program and Resources
You have access to confidential counseling through the Employee Assistance Program, in-network therapy and care through your health plan, and a range of community and wellness resources.
How You’re Supported
- Offers in-person or virtual counseling visits.
- Gives you access to resources and tools to help manage life’s changes.
Physical Wellness: Fitness Offerings
Your physical wellness benefits help you stay active and build healthy routines as your family grows.
How You’re Supported
- Access to discounted gym memberships, fitness programs, and wellness tools.
- Makes it easy to prioritize your health during this transition.
Saving and Spending Accounts
Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and Flexible Savings Account (FSAs) are tax-advantaged accounts that let you set aside pre-tax dollars to pay for eligible healthcare expenses. If you are enrolled in the Anthem High Deductible PPO Plan, you can open an HSA. All employees are eligible to open an FSA.
How You’re Supported
- Use for out-of-pocket medical, dental, and vision expenses for you and your dependents throughout the year.
- With an HSA, invest your savings when you reach $1,000 to grow your money for future needs.
- Allows you set aside money for eligible childcare expenses through a Dependent Day Care FSA.
Life and Disability
Life and accidental death and dismemberment insurance, as well as short- and long-term disability coverage can offer you and your family peace of mind.
How You’re Supported
- Provides you a strong foundation with Company-paid policies.
- Elect supplemental life insurance to offer your family added protection.
- Access to supplemental long-term disability to provide an additional benefit to your basic policy provided by Caltech.
- Added security when accidents happen with accidental death and dismemberment coverage.
Critical Illness
This insurance provides a cash benefit if you’re diagnosed with a covered condition, offering you extra financial protection when it matters most.
How You’re Supported
- Coverage is available for you and your covered dependents.
- Helps offset unexpected costs during a major health event.
- Receive a lump-sum payment in the amount of up to $10,000 or $20,000.
Hospital Indemnity Insurance
This insurance pays cash benefits if you’re admitted to the hospital for a covered stay, giving you extra financial support.
How You’re Supported
- Coverage is available for you and your covered dependents.
- Helps cover out-of-pocket costs if you are hospitalized.
Accident Insurance
This insurance pays a cash benefit for covered injuries, giving you extra financial protection when the unexpected happens.
How You’re Supported
- Coverage is available for you and your covered dependents.
- Helps cover costs from certain accidents or injuries outside of work.
Legal Services
You can get access to legal advice and services for common needs like wills, trusts, medical directives, and power-of-attorney documents.
How You’re Supported
- Makes it easy to put important documents in place so you can plan ahead with clarity and peace of mind.
Other Financial Wellness Tools
These resources help you plan, save, and make informed decisions as your family’s needs evolve, including retirement support, tuition reimbursement, public service loan forgiveness, and access to a credit union.
How You’re Supported
- Helps you build a secure and confident future.
- Expands your knowledge to shape better financial habits.
- Make sure your marriage, partnership, birth, or adoption qualifies by reviewing the “Can I change benefits?” page on this site.
- Evaluate your benefit options so you can choose what fits your growing family.
- Complete the enrollment process within 31 days of your qualifying life event. Select or adjust your plans to meet your growing family’s needs and add your new dependent(s).
- Submit required documents for your new dependent(s) before your enrollment deadline.
- Review and update your beneficiary information for life insurance, accidental death and dismemberment (if enrolled), and your retirement plans.
- Take care of yourself and your family by scheduling needed appointments, exploring mental health and childcare resources, and using wellness tools to support your transition.
Button: Enroll Now
Link to (Caltech): mybenefits.caltech.edu
Link to (JPL): Workday
Important reminders:
- You must enroll within 31-days of a qualifying life event in order to change your benefits coverage.
- You must submit supporting documentation for any dependents you add to your coverage. If you do not upload the required document(s) during your enrollment period, your dependent(s) will not be covered in Caltech’s plan this calendar year.