Health open enrollment for City of San Diego retirees began on June 1st and will end on June 30th. The fiscal year 2021 City retiree health booklets were mailed out to all eligible City retirees and beneficiaries on May 29th and an electronic version of the booklet is available here. You can also download and complete enrollment forms by visiting the City Retiree Health page. After you’ve completed an enrollment (or disenrollment) form, you must send it to SDCERS by June 30th – we prefer you scan your forms and email to health@sdcers.org, but you may also fax them to (858) 581-5314 or mail them to our offices at:
SDCERS – Health Division
401 West A Street, Suite 400
San Diego, CA 92101
As always, if you do not wish to make any changes to your current healthcare coverage, you do not need to take any action during open enrollment and your coverage will remain the same. The only exception to this is for those of you currently covered by United Concordia for dental insurance – effective August 1st, you will automatically be enrolled in the new Delta Dental plan, which is replacing United Concordia. If you do not want to enroll in the Delta Dental plan, you must provide SDCERS with a disenrollment form.
There is only one new plan this year – SDPEBA (San Diego Public Employee Benefit Association) is offering a new non-Medicare plan through Sharp. You can find details about this new plan, as well as all existing plans, in the City retiree health booklet referenced above. If you are comparing plans and trying to decide which is best for you, don’t forget about CareCounsel! CareCounsel Member Care Specialists are available for your healthcare inquiries and concerns. You can call them at (888) 227-3334 or e-mail staff@carecounsel.com Monday – Friday, 6:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. PST. CareCounsel also provides helpful videos on their website that may answer your questions about Medicare, here: https://carecounsel.com/medicare.html.
Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, this year’s open enrollment will be a little different than usual. Unlike years past, SDCERS will not be holding in-person open enrollment events this year, such as the annual Open Enrollment Kickoff or Help Day. Instead, the plan providers have recorded the presentations they would have given at SDCERS’ live open enrollment events, which you can access here.
SDCERS’ Call Center will be open for Open Enrollment, Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to noon, and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., at (619) 525-3600 and (800) 774-4977. Please be patient with our hard-working staff; we are still working with limited resources and call wait times may be longer than usual.