From Rene Rodriguez, President, VCCCDRA
Dear VCCCDRA Retirees,
THE FOLLOWING EMAIL WAS SENT TO ALL VCCCDRA RETIREES WHO HAVE AN EMAIL ADDRESS FOR THE PURPOSE OF UPDATING THEM ON VCCCDRA ACTIVITIES INVOLVING OUR HEALTHCARE BENEFITS.
This is to bring you up to date on the activities of the VCCCDRA Exec Board and the Benefits Committee chaired by Gary Johnson regarding the changes being proposed to our health plans by the college district.
On December 4, a subcommittee of the Benefits Committee completed its review of the comparison of the CalPERS health plans to our current Anthem Blue Cross plans thanks to the fastidious work created on spreadsheets by Marta Freixas.
On December 11, the Exec Board met to hear the report from Benefits Committee chair Gary Johnson. Based on his report and recommendations, the Exec Board took the position that the VCCCD Retirees’ Association is recommending holding steadfast to the status quo – no CalPERS. It also established the following calendar:
December 11 – share the findings of the subcommittee to the Benefits Committee with AFT and SEIU representatives, which it did that afternoon at 2 pm at the office of the AFT in Camarillo thanks to a previously agreed upon joint meeting.
December 12 – send an email to all retirees with email addresses, to invite those that can attend, to come to the December 17 Board of Trustees meeting to hear an update of VCCCDRA Exec Board activities, and to make individual presentations to the Board if they desire.
December 15 or thereabouts – send out the Winter 2020 edition of The Monitor with a report from Gary Johnson to retirees regarding the District’s proposal.
December 17 – attend the meeting of the Board of Trustees and briefly announce our findings to the Board in comparing their proposal to our current health plans, and announce a desire to meet with representatives of the District, Burnham, CalPERS, AFT and SEIU to go over these findings.
February 5 – find a venue to meet on this date to share the findings of the Benefits Committee with as many retirees as can attend such a general meeting.
NIXING PLACEMENT OF COMPARATIVE SPREADSHEET ON THE BLOG
The Exec Board thought it would be a good idea to get whatever information we had at our disposal out to retirees as soon as possible. I had announced in a previous email that we would be placing the spreadsheets comparing the current Anthem plans with the CalPERS plans that the District is proposing.
However, on further consideration, we determined that it would be counterproductive to share this information without explanation or guidance, and that offered in this manner, would most certainly raise more questions than they would answer, and therefore defeat the purpose of putting them our in the first place.
Consequently, the only solution is to present this comparative review of the health plans in a setting where all questions can be answered on the spot, thus the proposed General Meeting mentioned above for this very purpose on February 5.
The problem stems from the fact that each person receiving health care benefits fits into a particular category, and the consequential benefit costs for each individual differs depending on what category they fit into. Some are active employees, and among those some are faculty and some are classified There are also retirees, and among them, some are on Medicare and some are not, some have Part A only, and some have both Part A and Part B, some are Tier I and some are Tier II or III, just to name a few. The spreadsheets, as a matter of practicality, only address two categories of individuals, and I hesitate to mention these as explained to me by Marta over the telephone because of their specificity.
I hope you understand our predicament in presenting this information to you “as is”, and the need to avoid unnecessary confusion. We are just as anxious to get this information out to you as you are in getting it, but we will just have to wait until our face to face meeting that we are planning for February 5.
I look forward to seeing you on December 17 at 5 pm for those of you able to attend the Board of Trustees meeting at 761 East Daily Drive, Camarillo, between Las Posas and Carmen Drive.
Be well!
Rene G. Rodriguez
President, VCCCDRA
