Yet More on the Retiree Healthcare Runaway Train

EMERITI ASSOCIATION

101 UNIVERSITY HALL 

BERKELEY, CA 94720-1550 

June 20, 2019 

Dear EVP Nava,    

I am the president of the UC Berkeley Emeriti Association (UCBEA).  As a way of saving money, UCOP is contemplating the replacement of Health Net and possibly the two Medicare PPO’s with a Medicare Advantage PPO.  The savings are predicated upon two assumptions:  Advantage programs can more efficiently “manage” patients; the cost of Medicare supplement policies continue to increase.   

The former supposition may hold some merit, although there is a dearth of published data to support it.  The latter is called into question by recent information from CalPERS stating that the premiums for the existing Medicare PPOs will not increase dramatically, as we had been led to believe. According to CalPERS, the change in Medicare PPO premiums will actually decline by 2.52% between 2019 and 2020.  This new information is at variance with the repeatedly voiced claim that UC can save large amounts of money by switching to Medicare Advantage plans that every industry-knowledgeable source known to us predicts will entail a significant diminution of service benefits to retirees.     

I trust the Executive Steering Committee will take into account this new information, which would seem to reject the major argument for replacing the current PPO plans with Medicare Advantage. 

Sincerely, 

John Swartzberg, President UCBEA

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