Posts Tagged: health

2025 benefits changes message from UC Systemwide HR Vice President Cheryl Lloyd

Valued colleagues:

As we approach our annual Open Enrollment for health benefits, I want to share what we know about UC's medical plan costs for 2025 and update you on how we're preparing for 2026 and beyond. My goal is to provide information as early as possible so you can make informed decisions about your benefit plans.

The national trends that increased medical costs and medical plan premiums last year have continued. UC's medical plan costs will rise again this year due to increased health care utilization as our population ages and rates of chronic health conditions rise, enhanced benefits, and the rapidly expanding use of costly new drugs and treatments. 

To limit the impact of rising costs on employees and retirees, the decision was made, in consultation with President Drake, EVP-COO Nava and EVP-CFO Brostrom, to increase UC's 2025 contribution to medical premiums by $198M over 2024. Even with this additional contribution from UC, employee and retiree premium contributions will need to increase. 

Budgeting for the high costs of food, housing and child care is already a challenge for many in our community, so any increase is painful. Our people are our most important resource, and the Systemwide Human Resources team has spent the last year working closely with our health plan partners to look for every opportunity to balance the quality of our benefits with their affordability. We've also spent months analyzing how UC can minimize the impact of higher costs in a challenging budget year.

To rise to this challenge, we're focusing on a principle that is central to our mission — the critical importance of health care equity and access. We understand 2024 employee contributions were significantly higher than anticipated and explored multiple options to mitigate increases for 2025. As a result, employees will see no more than an 11% increase (with exception of the CORE plan) in 2025. Additionally, employee contributions will continue to be based on salary, with higher employee contributions and percentage increases for those who earn more. 

Significant Health Plan Changes for 2025

• With the exception of those enrolled in CORE medical, employees with annual salaries up to $140K a year will see 9% increases in their medical plan premiums and employees with annual salaries over $140K a year will see 11% increases.

These increases are consistent with other public employers in California. For example, CalPERS has announced an overall premium increase of 10.79% for 2025.

Retiree contribution changes for UC's retiree plans are more variable, with UC maintaining its agreement to fund a minimum of 70% of the cost of retiree medical plan premiums.

• To ensure that the costs of medical coverage are shared fairly, the CORE PPO plan will require an employee premium contribution beginning in 2025. Contributions for CORE will be the lowest of the UC medical plan options, but we know this is a big adjustment for UC employees who have appreciated the option of a plan that did not require a premium contribution. We will do all we can to help those employees understand their choices and consider carefully whether CORE is still the best option for them.

• To help minimize premium increases, some of the costs for receiving care and filling prescriptions will go up next year. For example, the copay for an outpatient visit will increase from $20 to $30 for members of UC Blue & Gold HMO, Kaiser HMO, UC Care (UC Select/Tier 1), UC Medicare Choice and Kaiser Senior Advantage — the first such increase for these plans in over 10 years. Copays for prescription drugs will go up for most of UC's medical plans, and there will be a new drug tier for specialty drugs that will have 30% coinsurance, up to $150 per prescription, for UC Blue & Gold HMO and Kaiser HMO.

Preparing for 2026 and beyond

We owe it to the UC community to find and take every opportunity to control costs and protect the security and quality of UC's benefits. To this end, we have been working with expert consultants on a large-scale analysis of our overall benefits strategy and priorities. Throughout all our work to ensure UC's benefits meet the needs of our community, we will continue to seek out the counsel and engagement of faculty, staff, retiree and emeriti groups. 

Keeping you informed

Open Enrollment begins on Thursday, October 31, this year. Keep an eye on UCnet and UCnetwork for regular updates, take advantage of your location's Open Enrollment resources and check your mailbox and email inbox for details and reminders. Your benefits and communications colleagues across UC stand ready to keep you informed and help you make the best choices for your needs and the needs of your family. 

Sincerely, 

Cheryl Lloyd
Vice President
Systemwide Human Resources

COVID-19 guidelines change

On Jan. 9, 2024, the California Department of Public Health updated its COVID-19 Isolation Guidance, Testing Guidance, and the State Public Health Officer Order.

The updates impact Cal/OSHA's COVID-19 Prevention Non-Emergency Regulations and the requirements related to isolating positive cases and testing of close contacts. To ensure that we maintain a safe workplace and safe ANR programming, and comply with public health and occupational safety requirements, all ANR employees must still follow these guidelines. 

The updated Quarantine, Isolation, and Return to Work Guidelines and Quarantine, Isolation, and Return to Work Summary Chart can be found on the ANR Environmental Health & Safety website.

Based on the changes to the guidelines by Cal/OSHA and CDPH, UC ANR will adjust and implement the new guidelines for COVID-19, as follows:

If you test positive for COVID-19:

• Report your COVID-19 test or symptoms to the UC ANR COVID-19 safety team at https://ucanr.edu/covidscreening
• Stay home if you have COVID-19 symptoms.
• You may return to working in-person when all of the following are true:
  1. More than 24 hours have passed since the onset of symptoms, 
  2. You have no fever without the use of fever-reducing medications, 
  3. Symptoms are mild and improving.
• If you have symptoms other than fever, you may voluntarily isolate until symptoms improve or until after Day 10. Day 0 is the symptom onset or positive test day.
• If symptoms are severe, if you are at high risk of serious disease, or have questions concerning care, contact your healthcare provider.
• Wear a well-fitting mask around others through Day 10 after the start of symptoms or testing positive. You may remove your mask sooner than 10 days if you have two sequential negative tests at least one day apart.
• A negative test is not required for return to work.

 If you had close contact with someone with COVID-19:

• Wear a well-fitting mask or respirator around others (at your worksite, indoors, in vehicles, in the field when working near others, etc.) for at least 10 days after exposure.
• Monitor yourself for COVID-19 symptoms. If you develop new symptoms, testing is recommended.
• If you are at a higher risk of severe disease or if you've had contact with someone at higher risk of severe disease, testing is recommended.
• You may still voluntarily get tested after the exposure.
• If you test positive, follow the guidelines for testing positive.

The definition of “Close Contact” remains the same.

Close Contact definition: Close Contact occurs through proximity and duration of exposure. Someone who shared the same indoor airspace with an infected person for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period is considered Close Contact. Spaces that are separated by floor-to-ceiling walls (e.g., offices, suites, rooms, waiting areas, bathrooms, or break or eating areas that are separated by floor-to-ceiling walls) must be considered distinct indoor airspaces. 

In large indoor spaces greater than 400,000 cubic feet per floor (such as open-floor-plan offices, arenas or large meeting spaces, warehouses, large retail stores, or manufacturing/processing facilities), close contact is defined as being within 6 feet of the infected person for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period during the confirmed case's infectious period.

Exception: if you or the Close Contact were wearing a respirator or an N95 mask at the time of interaction.

For more information on the updated guidelines by Cal/OSHA, visit:

• COVID-19 – What Employers Need to Know - Fact Sheet: https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/coronavirus/Non-Emergency-regs-summary.pdf
• COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions: https://www.dir.ca.gov/DOSH/Coronavirus/Covid-19-NE-Reg-FAQs.html

 

 

Soule named acting Statewide Community Nutrition and Health Director

Katherine Soule has agreed to serve as acting Statewide Director of Community Nutrition and Health while Amira Resnick is on leave until July 1. If you need support for work related to community nutrition and health, please contact Katherine at (805) 781-5940 or kesoule@ucanr.edu.

Katherine, who is the UC Cooperative Extension health equity advisor for San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties, remains based in San Luis Obispo. Many thanks to her for filling this essential role during Amira's absence. 

Brent Hales 
Associate Vice President for Research and Cooperative Extension

 

2024 health insurance rates explained by Cheryl Lloyd, VP of Systemwide HR

As Open Enrollment begins, I have heard from many members of our community about how they will be impacted by increased medical premiums for UC plans next year. Nothing I can say will help you balance your monthly budget, but I feel I owe you an explanation of the steps we've taken to maintain quality, choice, affordability and equity.

As someone who takes UC's commitment to high-quality and affordable health benefits very seriously, the premium increases for 2024 are painful. Even with UC covering over 80% of the cost, next year's medical premiums will make a bigger dent in paychecks that need to cover many other critical expenses.

Since we learned that medical costs were increasing for 2024 — nationally, as well as for UC — I have been working with UCOP leadership and Systemwide Human Resources colleagues to figure out how to ease the burden of rising costs on our employees and retirees.

Sacrificing quality or choice was never on the table. UC continues to offer CORE, a high-deductible medical plan, as a $0 premium option for budget-conscious employees who don't anticipate significant medical needs. For other employees, though, it is critical that UC continue to offer plans with a range of features, including low out-of-pocket costs for care and access to UC Health's world-class providers (access that is protected regardless of issues that may arise between UC Health providers and insurance carriers).

After many conversations and budget analyses, UCOP leaders committed to $93 million in subsidies — added to UC's original budget — directed toward lowering premiums. This follows a subsidy of $29.5 million last year, also added to lower premiums for employees and retirees, and several years of premium increases kept in check through well-managed costs and contracts.

As part of UC's commitment to equity, medical plan premium costs continue to be adjusted by salary range and premium increases are distributed equally by percentage across pay bands. For example, the premium for self-coverage in Kaiser increased by 26%; that's an increase of less than $8/month for employees who earn up to $68,000 a year and an increase of $38.58/month for employees who make over $204,000 a year.

The challenge of responding to the complicated factors that affect the cost of health care benefits has not gotten any easier during my four years leading Systemwide Human Resources. We will continue to work closely with our health plan partners to manage costs, to adjust UC's budget to maintain our commitment to quality and affordability, and to listen to and learn from our community.

If you have any questions or feedback, please reach out to Jay Henderson, associate vice president of UC Total Rewards, at healthandwelfarebenefits@ucop.edu.

Sincerely, 

Cheryl Lloyd
Vice President
Systemwide Human Resources

 

Employee comment: Affiliations with certain health care organizations

The University of California Office of the President invites comments on the draft Presidential Policy on Affiliations with Certain Health Care Organizations, which supports the implementation of Regents Policy 4405. The policy makes revisions to the existing interim Presidential Policy, which was first circulated for systemwide review in March 2022. The policy has been revised to:

• Focus on UC values by enhancing the policy summary statement and addressing the importance of affiliations with government agencies;
• Clarify expectations of UC providers and define “emergency services” and “emergency medical conditions” under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) and the California Department of Managed Health Care;
• Specify implementation of the voluntary requirement for UC health trainees to support continuity of University training programs; and
• Reduce administrative burden for “limited affiliations,” while maintaining consistency with Regents Policy 4405.

The proposed revisions to the policy may be viewed at https://ucanr.edu/sites/PCPA/Revisions/.

If you have any questions or if you wish to comment on this policy revision, please contact Robin Sanchez at rgsanchez@ucanr.edu, no later than Oct. 11, 2023. Please indicate “Affiliations Policy” in the subject line.

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