Employees and retirees enrolled in UC-sponsored health plans are highly satisfied with their plans, according to surveys conducted last spring.

“We have worked diligently over the years to balance costs and maintain good medical benefits for our faculty, staff and retirees. We are pleased that most of our plans have helped us deliver on this and that most of our plan’s participants report being highly satisfied with UC-sponsored health benefits offerings, that indicates people are getting value from the close to $2 billion the university spends,” said Dwaine B. Duckett, vice president of Systemwide Human Resources.

A survey completed by more than 4,700 employees and retirees in UC-sponsored non-Medicare plans found the following percentages of enrollees satisfied with their overall health plan:

  • 89 percent, Health Net Blue & Gold
  • 94 percent, Kaiser Permanente
  • 92 percent, Western Health Advantage

The survey looked at enrollees’ satisfaction with their health care, health plan, access to care (including appointments with specialists) and customer service.

A separate survey was completed by over 900 retirees in UC-sponsored Medicare plans, with additional questions about satisfaction with prescription drug plans. The following percentages of enrollees were satisfied with their overall health plan:

  • 94 percent, Health Net Seniority Plus
  • 94 percent, Kaiser Senior Advantage

The national average for overall satisfaction with Medicare health plans is 88 percent, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, making UC retirees on Medicare more satisfied than average.

Please note that members of UC’s PPO plans were not surveyed about their experiences in 2016 because of the scheduled shift to new plan administrators for 2017. Members of those plans will be included in next year’s survey.

UC’s other plans also received high ratings for overall satisfaction:

  • 87 percent, Optum Behavioral Health
  • 99 percent, Delta Dental PPO and 90 percent, DeltaCare USA
  • 99 percent (both employees and retirees), Vision Service Plan (VSP)
  • 91 percent, Liberty Mutual’s handling of short-term disability claims and 95 percent, handling of long-term disability claims

Medical plan surveys were conducted by the DSS Research Group, an independent survey research firm.