UCOP Needs to Make the Call to Protect Survivor Health Insurance - Part 9 (written submission)

Don't be afraid, UCOP! Pick up the phone!

The Regents are meeting in an off-cycle session today at Santa Cruz. Yours truly plans (again) to make an oral comment during the public comments segment about the improper cancellation of survivors' health insurance. (This will be the third such comment.) Also, he has taken advantage of the opportunity to submit a more-detailed written comment that will be included in the agenda materials. Here is that submission:

To: The Regents

I plan to speak by phone at the public comments segment of the upcoming Regents meeting of August 28 on behalf of the Emeriti Associations of UCLA, Santa Barbara, and San Francisco regarding the improper cancellations of retiree health insurance of survivors. These will be the same comments I have made at the previous two Regents meetings.

Under your retiree health insurance plan, eligible survivors are supposed to have continued health insurance coverage upon the death of the UC employee. However, when grieving widows and widowers - eligible for continued health coverage - call to report the death of their spouses, they are being told that we're sorry for your loss and we have inadvertently cancelled your health insurance. We will let you know when it is restored.

I chair a labor-management committee for a major public agency that provides continued health coverage for survivors. We deal with the same carriers as UC: Kaiser, Blue Cross, etc. But we don't inadvertently cut off survivors. CalPERS and CalSTRS don't do it. This problem is unique to UC.

Fortunately, a simple fix is available. The responsible official at the UC Office of the President (UCOP) needs to pick up the phone, call the insurance carriers, and tell them not to cancel survivor policies. My experience is that the carriers will do what their customers request as long as they are paid their contractual rates. If UC tells them not to cancel, they won't cancel.

As you may know, there is a longstanding problem regarding basic administration of the UC retirement program. I am not referring to funding, but simple management, e.g., someone retires but somehow his/her pension check doesn't arrive. You will get all kinds of complicated explanations as to why these problems arise: labor shortages, computer systems, etc. But the survivor cancellation problem is easy to fix. UCOP needs to pick up the phone, call the insurance carriers, and tell them not to cancel survivor health insurance.

Below I have listed links regarding this matter. I especially recommend that you listen to the audio recording embedded in Part 1. Thank you.

-Dan Mitchell, Professor-Emeritus, UCLA
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Links:
UCOP Needs to Make the Call to Protect Survivor Health Insurance

Part 8: https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2023/08/ucop-needs-to-make-call-to-protect_9.html [contains video]

Part 7: https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2023/08/ucop-needs-to-make-call-to-protect.html

Part 6: https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2023/07/ucop-needs-to-make-call-to-protect_20.html [contains audio]

Part 5: https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2023/07/ucop-needs-to-make-call-to-protect.html

Part 4: https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2023/06/ucop-needs-to-make-call-to-protect_30.html

Part 3: https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2023/06/ucop-needs-to-make-call-to-protect_17.html

Part 2: https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2023/06/ucop-needs-to-make-call-to-protect.html

Part 1: http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2023/04/ucop-needs-to-make-call-to-protect.html [contains audio]

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UCOP...Pick...Up...The...Phone!

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UPDATE: Here is the audio of the message to the Regents at the public comment segment:

Or direct to https://ia800506.us.archive.org/8/items/regents-public-comment-survivors-health-insurance-8-28-23/Regents%20-%20public%20comment%20-%20survivors%27%20health%20insurance%208-28-23.mp4.

Here is the text of the public comment remarks:

Hello. I am Professor-Emeritus Dan Mitchell speaking for the third time at a Regents meeting on behalf of the Emeriti Associations of UCLA, Santa Barbara, and San Francisco. When a UC retiree dies, he or she often has a surviving spouse eligible for continued health insurance under the Regents' retiree plan. Yet when survivors call to report the death of the retiree, they are being told, "We're sorry for your loss; We're also sorry to tell you that we have inadvertently terminated your health insurance. We'll let you know when we have restored it."

This is a problem unique to UC. It's not happening at CalPERS or CalSTRS. I chair a labor-management committee of a major public agency that looks after health insurance. We don't cut off survivors. 

Why don't survivors get cut off elsewhere? Because the insurance carriers are given a list of names of who to cover and they do so, so long as they are paid the contractual rate.

So, there is a simple solution for UC. The officials in charge need to pick up the phone, call the insurance carriers, and tell them not to cancel survivors. They need to pick up the phone rather than offer mysterious excuses of why this can't be done.  

I have provided more detailed written material for your kits today which contains links to still more information including an audio recording of UC officials trying to explain why this blunder occurs. Please read the material and listen to the audio. Thank you.