Articles for category Health Care
Posted Oct 05, 2016 by Jamee V
Health Care
Sacramento, CA - OptumRX has finally released critical pieces of information in regards to the cost of prescription drugs. This comes on the heels of CSR pushing for this critical data to be shared with the public during the open enrollment process. Many members were concerned they did not have the full story when choosing a provider.
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Posted Sep 08, 2016 by CSR Website Administrator
Health Care
Health Plan Open Enrollment for CalPERS members is Sept. 12- Oct. 7. Most members who are satisfied with their current plan need do nothing to remain in the same plan. The exception is Blue Cross Net Value members. That plan is being discontinued.
If members on that plan do nothing, they will automatically be transitioned to Blue Shield Access Plus, starting Jan. 1, 2017. Or they may choose another health plan during this Open Enrollment period.
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Posted Oct 01, 2015 by
CalPERS
Health Care
Retirement
The California State Retirees Health Benefits Committee is calling for CalPERS to extend open enrollment for retirees this year because changes in Medicare health plan offerings were not adequately explained in time for members to make informed decisions by the Oct. 9 enrollment deadline.
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Posted Sep 08, 2015 by
CalPERS
Retirees
Health Care
CalPERS mailed out Health Plan Statements in August to help members review the increases or decreases in their providers’ 2016 rates and determine whether they want to make changes.
The biggest change for many state retirees in 2016 will be the new Medicare Advantage Plan, which was adopted by the CalPERS Board of Administration in an effort to improve member health and wellness, while lowering the costs of member health care.
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Posted Sep 08, 2015 by
CalPERS
Retirees
Health Care
More than 200 people participated in a webinar with CalPERS and UnitedHealthcare officials Aug. 19 in an effort to answer many of the questions surrounding the UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage PPO plan, which becomes the single provider of health services for four of the CalPERS Medicare Advantage plans in 2016.
The plans that will no longer be available to CalPERS Medicare members are Blueshield, Anthem HMO, Health Net and Sharp.
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Posted Sep 02, 2015 by
CalPERS
Retirees
Health Care
Retirement
Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration has reached a tentative deal with a key employee union that would require state engineers to contribute toward their retirement health care benefits, likely establishing a template that will be applied to other state employee unions to help reduce a growing financial liability.
Under the three-year agreement, which still must be ratified by the union’s members and the Democratic-dominated Legislature, the Professional Engineers in California Government in mid-2017 would have to begin paying one-half of 1 percent of their pre-tax salaries into a fund to chip away at the fiscal millstone.
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Posted Sep 02, 2015 by
CalPERS
Retirees
Health Care
Retirement
The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) has named Doug McKeever the new Deputy Executive Officer (DEO) for Benefit Programs Policy and Planning.
McKeever, who has [Read More...]
Posted Sep 01, 2015 by
CalPERS
Health Care
This is a video from CalPERS detailing the UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage PPO Plan. Read more to view the video at your leasure and learn more about the plan.
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Posted Jun 16, 2015 by
CalPERS
Retirees
Health Care
Retirement
CalPERS -- The California Public Employees' Retirement System's (CalPERS) Pension and Health Benefits Committee (PHBC) recommended June 16 the Pension Fund's Board of Administration adopt health care premium rate and plan changes for 2016. The recommendations include adopting a Medicare plan alternative - UnitedHealthcare's (UHC) Medicare Advantage Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) plan - and eliminating Medicare Advantage plans currently offered by Anthem Blue Cross, Blue Shield of California, Health Net and Sharp. Kaiser Permanente will continue to offer its Medicare Advantage plan and the CalPERS PPO Medicare Supplement plans will remain in place.
CalPERS' decision to adopt UHC's PPO could save a minimum of $24 million if at least 40,000 members move into this new Medicare plan option.
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Posted Jun 16, 2015 by
CalPERS
Retirees
Health Care
Retirement
Sacramento Bee -- Thousands of calls to California’s Medi-Cal complaint lines don’t get through, and thousands more that manage to ring the call center go unanswered, according to a new state audit.
For the year that ended in January 2015, the phone system to the Medi-Cal Ombudsman Office rejected up to 45,000 calls in a month, State Auditor Elaine Howle said in her report to lawmakers.
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Posted Jun 15, 2015 by
General News
Health Care
CNNMoney (New York) - CVS Health (CVS) and Target (TGT)announced Monday that they've made a deal for CVS to acquire Target's pharmacy and clinic businesses for $1.9 billion
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Posted May 12, 2015 by
CalPERS
Health Care
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The southern California city of San Bernardino has proposed virtually eliminating retiree health insurance costs under a bankruptcy exit plan it must produce by May 31, according to an attorney involved in negotiations with city officials.
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Posted May 01, 2015 by
CalPERS
Retirees
Health Care
Retirement
Long-Term Care Reform Package Making Its Way Through Legislature
California legislators are considering a package of 24 bills this session collectively aimed at improving the state's support network for aging services and long-term care.
The bills -- 12 in the Assembly and 12 in the Senate -- deal with a variety of issues involving some of the 112 separate programs for aging and long-term care overseen by 20 different agencies and departments in the state and county governments.
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Posted Apr 15, 2015 by
Retirees
Health Care
Legislation
Retirement
Medicare is poised to overhaul the way it pays physicians and create new systems to reward high-performing doctors under legislation approved by the Senate late Tuesday.
The unusually bipartisan bill, which passed the House easily last month, will immediately lift the threat of an automatic 21% cut in Medicare fees to physicians, which was set to take effect Wednesday.
The legislation also marks a milestone in the push to modernize Medicare, the nation’s mammoth federal insurance program for the elderly, and move it away from the traditional system of paying physicians for every procedure they perform.
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Posted Mar 19, 2015 by
CalPERS
Retirees
Health Care
Politics
California State Retirees President Tim Behrens testified at a joint informational hearing on March 18 that the governor's plan to introduce a high-deductible health plan for CalPERS members is "the wrong path to take in addressing high health care costs."
"Such plans shift costs to workers, discourage people from accessing needed health care and would divide [CalPERS] health plans into those for the young and those for the old," Behrens testified before the joint Informational hearinig of the Senate Public Employment and Retirement Committee and the Assembly Public Employees, Retirement and Social Security Committee.
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Posted Mar 10, 2015 by
CalPERS
Health Care
Nearly three weeks after Anthem said it suffered a massive data breach, officials have an estimated tally for the number of Californians affected: 13.5 million residents.
That total includes current and former enrollees in Anthem Blue Cross, plus other California residents covered by other members of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association through out-of-state employers or similar arrangements, Anthem Blue Cross spokesman Darrel Ng said Tuesday.
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Posted Feb 13, 2015 by
Retirees
Health Care
Here is the link to the Anthem Blue Cross information page regarding the data breach and services being provided by Anthem Blue Cross.
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Posted Feb 09, 2015 by
CalPERS
Retirees
Health Care
Class-action lawsuits have been filed in California and two other states against health insurer Anthem over a data breach affecting about 80 million customers, former customers and employees, Modern Healthcare reports.
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Posted Feb 05, 2015 by
CalPERS
Retirees
Health Care
As many as 80 million customers of the nation's second-largest health insurance company, Anthem Inc., have had their account information stolen, the company said in a statement.
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Posted Feb 05, 2015 by
CalPERS
Retirees
Health Care
If you’re a state retiree or planning to become one, a piece of Gov. Jerry Brown’s 2015-16 budget proposal could hit your wallet.
The governor’s plan envisions a new high-deductible, lower-premium health insurance policy for state workers. It would be paired with a tax-advantaged health savings account and take effect Jan. 1, 2016.
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