Changes have come to the CalPERS medical insurance plans for the year 2022. PERS made this change, not SMC.
PERS is no longer offering PERS Care, PERS Choice, and PERS Select plans. Instead, they have combined PERS Care and PERS Choice into a new plan called PERS Platinum. PERS Platinum is the exact same plan as PERS Care was. The important thing to know is that there are no plan changes outside of the new name, and you do not need to do anything to switch.
For those of you in PERS Care the district will automatically move you to PERS Platinum. For faculty members currently in PERS Choice (80/20) you will automatically be upgraded to PERS Platinum (90/10) including all the other plan improvements. Also, just as with PERS Care, any faculty member currently in PERS Choice will automatically be transitioned over to PERS Platinum without the need to fill out any paperwork.
PERS Select is now PERS Gold (80/20). So, faculty members in PERS Select will be moved over to PERS Gold.
For 2022, SMC will pay 100% of the medical insurance premium for PERS Platinum (the finest PPO medical insurance plan offered by PERS) for you and all eligible dependents thanks to language negotiated by your SMC Faculty Association.
Note: if you are currently in PERS Select and want to change your plan to PERS Platinum, you need to fill out new paperwork and be transitioned to the PERS Platinum plan.
Below is a quick break down of the new PERS Platinum plan that all current PERS Care and PERS Choice faculty members will be automatically transitioned to.
PERS Platinum is a 90/10 PPO Plan. You have a $20 co-pay for office visits. There is a $500 individual deductible or $1,000 family deductible. Once you fulfill the deductible then, the insurance pays 90% of the overall medical bill, while you pay the remaining 10% (up to the maximum calendar year co-insurance). For PERS Platinum both urgent care and specialist visits co-pays are $35 for 2022.
The PERS Platinum out of Pocket Maximum Co-insurance is:
a. $2000 for Single (per calendar year, not per incident)
b. $4000 for 2-Party and Family (per calendar year, not per incident)
The open enrollment period for full-time faculty members to make changes to their medical insurance plans this year is from September 20th – October 15th.
Dental and Vision plans will remain the same for 2022 with one exception. The allowance for contact lenses has increased from $140 to $150.
For our part-time colleagues, Santa Monica College will pay 100% of the Kaiser Permanente Traditional HMO Plan premium for eligible part-time faculty members. To qualify for health benefits, part-time faculty members must have been employed two previous semesters within the last six semesters, and as of Monday of the third week of the semester who have teaching assignments of five hours or more per week for the semester, or as of Monday of the fifth week of the semester are assigned the equivalent of five hours or more per week of a non-teaching assignment. Part-time faculty members who are currently enrolled in health benefits, if you have any teaching or non-teaching assignment for fall semester your coverage will continue. If an eligible part-time faculty member already has medical insurance through a partner of relative, they may instead choose a fully paid Delta Dental PPO or HMO plan, or a vision plan.
The part-time Kaiser Permanente Traditional HMO Plan co-pays will remain at $10 with no changes to out of pocket maximum ($1500), plan deductible ($0), drug deductible ($0). If you
would like to add a second person to your plan the cost will be $1,155.36 deducted from your check eighthly (four times in Fall: September, October, November, December checks and four times in Spring: March, April, May, June checks). For the family plan, the out-of-pocket costs will be $2,114.33 again deducted from your check eighthly.
The open enrollment period to make changes to the Kaiser Permanente Traditional HMO Plan is from September 13th – September 21st.
If you have any further questions please contact Ms. Alysha DeLuna, in Human Resources at deluna_alysha@smc.edu or 310-434-4523, or Ms. Lugina Rogers at rogers_lugina@smc.edu or 310-434-4060.
Mario Martinez
