News Brief
Monday, January 26, 2026 — 12:17 pm
Fresno Unified School District retired educators filed a complaint last week against the district, alleging that it violated a 2010 court decision that protects their promised lifetime benefits. The district has received the complaint but has a policy not to comment on potential litigation.
The complaint comes amid disruptions to retirees’ health care with Community Medical Centers, the area’s largest health care provider. Retirees in the Central Valley who receive health care through the Community Health Partners system lost access to in-network providers and specialists they depend on due to a contract dispute between the provider group and insurer Aetna, a plan model the district switched to in 2023.
The district’s health board has voted to restore the plan option that operated between 1976 and 2023. That plan option won’t become active until January 2027, leaving 6,200 retirees and their spouses or eligible dependents on the Aetna plan. Federal regulations will take months for the plan to become active. The complaint seeks an immediate restoration of the plan.
“Hundreds of retirees/future retirees are being harmed by the loss of Community providers,” retired educator Larry Moore said in a statement posted on Facebook. “People are losing doctors mid-treatment. Appointments are being canceled. Care is being delayed. When people’s health is involved, you don’t wait months. You act.”
After weeks of denying in-network services, Community Medical Centers agreed to extend access to patient care for office visits and prescription refills until Feb. 20 while contract negotiations continue with Aetna. But until Community Medical and Aetna reach an agreement, retirees are stuck in limbo, receiving only partial benefits.
The temporary extension of care “provides undefined, limited access and does not itemize covered services, creating ongoing uncertainty for retirees and providers alike,” the complaint says.
Fresno Unified is among about 7% of school districts statewide that offer lifetime health benefits to educators who worked in the district for over two decades. From 1976 to 2023, Fresno Unified funded supplemental insurance that covered retirees’ health care after Medicare benefits were exhausted. In the self-funded model, the district contracts directly with individual providers to cover the remaining costs rather than setting up a network of providers.
In 2023, Fresno Unified switched from the self-funded retirement plan to contracting with Aetna through the Aetna Medicare Advantage Plan, which has a nationwide network of providers, including Community Medical Centers. Retirees had a choice between the Aetna and the Kaiser Medicare Advantage plans that had always been available.
Medicare Advantage Plans have been scrutinized for their insurance practices. Nineteen percent of health care systems no longer accept the plans, and 61% considered dropping them in 2023, according to a 2024 Senate investigation.
The last health care plan changes for Fresno Unified retirees date back to 2006, when the district started charging the premiums, contrary to the premium-free, district-provided lifetime benefits promised. Retired educators sued the district and prevailed, leading to the 2010 court decision that found the district can only negotiate changes in an employee’s health benefits package “before they have retired and not after.”
There is legal precedent that protects against substantial reductions in coverage, said Alan Warhaftig, a retired Los Angeles Unified School District teacher who has studied retiree benefit protections. Because the district changed the retirement health plan option from its supplemental insurance to an Advantage Plan, which arguably has a narrower provider network, the district diminished the value of the benefits, according to Warhaftig. He said Fresno Unified is “just going through the list of the things you can’t do legally.”
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