Health Insurance Open Enrollment Starts October 26
The annual open enrollment period for changing your health insurance enrollment or plan choice begins on October 26 and will continue through November 17. You can also choose to enroll in Flexible Spending Accounts. Any change you make will be effective January 1, 2024, but if you make no changes your 2023 plan choices and enrollment will continue. Log into UCPath to make changes and here is information about medical plan and dental plan options.

New Benefits for 2024
In our new union contract, Postdocs negotiated for additional health benefits that will start in 2024. These new benefits include:

  • Expanded infertility benefits (IVF, GIFT, and ZIFT) 
  • New acupuncture coverage 
  • Increased allowance for contact lenses and glasses

Click here for more details on benefit changes for 2024 and send an email to uaw5810@uaw5810.org if you have additional questions about health benefits.

2024 Plan Rates 
Due to our union contract, we have negotiated low rates for a high-quality health benefits plan that includes your dependents — our rates are about 10 times less than what non-unionized Postdocs pay across the US. For the HMO plan, you pay 2% of the monthly premium costs for the HMO plan (UC pays the remaining 98%) and for the PPO plan you pay 4% of the monthly premium costs. Here are the new monthly costs for 2024, these are changing from 2023 to 2024 so please review when deciding whether to change your plan.

2024 Monthly Premium Rates — Postdoc Scholar Benefits Plan
  HMO Plan PPO plan
Postdoc only $13.30 $28.38
Postdoc + children $23.27 $49.66
Postdoc + partner $31.92 $68.11
Postdoc + family $40.56 $86.55

New Childcare Benefit starts October 1
Due to our new union contract, on October 1 all UC Postdocs are eligible for $2500 in childcare reimbursement for dependents under 12 years old. Here’s UC’s brochure with details about the program and the form to submit receipts. For campus-specific information about how to submit your receipts, click here.

 

Update on PPO Mental Health Benefits Grievance
Earlier this year, UC violated our union contract by unilaterally changing the mental health benefits in the Health Net PPO plan — out-of-network coverage for mental health benefits increased from a $0 deductible and 0% co-pay to a $200 deductible and a 40% co-pay. After Postdocs filed a union grievance, UC has agreed to reimburse costs for 2023. We are currently negotiating over the specifics of the reimbursement process, but be sure to save all documentation if you used this benefit.

In solidarity,

Neal Sweeney
President, UAW Local 5810