UCSF medical professional

UC offers employees and retirees a choice of medical plans because maintaining good benefits is important to you and it’s important to UC. Our plans have a broad choice of providers — including UC medical center doctors, hospitals and medical groups — and plan designs to fit your needs. And UC continues to cover most of the cost of the monthly premiums.

For employees

Employees have these medical plan options:

  • Kaiser, an HMO with a closed network of doctors and hospitals
  • UC Blue & Gold (administered by Health Net), an HMO with a network designed just for UC
  • UC Care (administered by Anthem Blue Cross), a PPO plan created just for UC with access to UC doctors and medical centers as well as the entire Anthem PPO network
  • UC Health Savings Plan (administered by Anthem Blue Cross), a PPO with a health savings account that allows you to contribute tax-free
  • CORE (administered by Anthem Blue Cross), a high-deductible PPO plan offered at no cost to eligible faculty and staff

Behavioral health benefits are provided by Optum as well as by Kaiser for Kaiser members, and by Health Net Behavioral Health for UC Blue & Gold HMO members. Behavioral health benefits for PPO plans (UC Care, UC Health Savings Plan and CORE) are provided by Anthem Blue Cross.

All UC medical plans offer telehealth services for medical and behavioral health care and advice by phone and/or video.

To learn all about your benefits choices, attend a UCPath webinar and check out ALEX® — a personal benefits counselor available 24/7 on your computer, phone or tablet. 

For retirees who live in California

Please note that employees who retire but are not yet eligible for Medicare stay in their current medical plan until another qualifying event or Open Enrollment. Retirement is not a qualifying event that triggers a Period of Initial Eligibility. Get answers to your questions about Medicare.

During Open Enrollment, retirees not eligible for Medicare may enroll in any of the employee plans except UC Health Savings Plan. Individuals enrolled in the UC Health Savings Plan when they retire may continue in the plan as a retiree until they, or a covered family member, becomes entitled to Medicare. 

Retirees enrolled in Medicare may choose from the following plans:

Behavioral health benefits for Medicare plans are provided by Medicare and the plan. 

For retirees who live outside California

As noted above, employees who retire but are not yet eligible for Medicare stay in their current medical plan until another qualifying event or Open Enrollment. Retirement is not a qualifying event that triggers a Period of Initial Eligibility.

UC provides Medicare-eligible retirees and their families who live outside California a Medicare Coordinator program, administered by Via Benefits.