UCOP Needs to Make the Call to Protect Survivor Health Insurance

Don't be afraid, UCOP. Make the call.

There have been ongoing problems for new retirees and survivors in dealing with pension and retiree health insurance issues centered on the RASC (Retirement Administration Service Center): very long delays in getting phone information, payments not starting promptly, etc. Efforts are being made to improve service and some success has been reported.

However, a particularly egregious problem has been cancellation of health insurance of survivors. When a retiree dies, his/her survivor's health insurance is supposed to continue. But apparently what often happens is that when the primary retiree dies, his/her policy is cancelled and with it the policy of the survivor. Note that we are talking about an elderly population likely to be under treatment. Disruption of coverage could have major implications.

At a joint meeting of CUCRA and CUCEA last Wednesday, it was revealedthat what occurs is that the insurance company becomes aware of the death and cancels both policies.

Note that there is no urgency in cancelling the dead person's policy. The dead don't have medical expenses. (Do I need to point this out?) So, there will be no further medical expenses that insurance carrier must pay out. In any case, even if the dead person's policy is cancelled, the survivor's policy need not be cancelled and in fact should not be cancelled. RASC is reporting progress in shortening the time between improper cancellation of the survivor's policy and turning it back on. But there shouldn't be cancellation. We don't need progress in undoing what should not be done. We just need not to do it.

Yours truly chairs a union-management committee that looks after health insurance for certain employees and retirees of LA Metro. I can tell you that this cancellation problem is unique to UC. It does not happen elsewhere. It does not happen with CalPERS.

What would fix the problem is a phone call from UCOP to the insurance carriers telling them not to do it. Insurance carriers cover the people that the employer tells them to cover. As long as they are paid for the coverage, the carriers will do whatever they are instructed to do. This is an absurd situation! It has nothing to do with labor shortages at RASC or computer glitches. Someone at UCOP needs to pick up the phone and fix the situation now. UCOP...PICK...UP...THE...PHONE.

By the way, the CUCRA-CUCEA meeting was via Zoom and recorded with the consent of all parties. If the situation above seems unbelievable to you, here is the audio of the survivor-cancellation revelation:

Or direct to https://ia802600.us.archive.org/0/items/regents-health-services-committee-4-12-23/Survivor%20benefit%20cancellation%20CUCEA-CUCRA%204-26-2023.mp4.