News Brief

Thursday, February 5, 2026 — 8:43 am

Insurer Aetna and the Central Valley’s largest health care provider, Community Medical Centers, reached a contract agreement this week, restoring access for retired educators in the Fresno Unified School District. 

Failed contract negotiations disrupted health care coverage in January for retirees 65 and older on the Aetna Medicare Advantage plan, which the district switched to in 2023. Retirees lost access to in-network care with Community Medical Centers.

A contract agreement between Community Medical and Aetna was one of the few ways to immediately restore full health care access to affected retirees. Until 2023, Fresno Unified funded supplemental insurance that paid for retirees’ health care after their Medicare coverage. In the self-funded model, the district contracted directly with individual providers to cover the remaining costs rather than establishing a network of providers.

During the disruptions, the district’s health board voted to restore the plan option that operated between 1976 and 2023.

In 2023, Fresno Unified switched from a 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 plan and the Kaiser Medicare Advantage plan, which had always been available. 

The health board’s restoration of the self-funded model as an option, due to federal requirements, won’t become available until the 2026 open enrollment period and take effect in January 2027. 

Retirees will have the choice of the district’s supplemental insurance plan, similar to what ran until 2023, the Aetna Medicare Advantage Plan that contracts with Community Medical Centers and others nationwide, as well as the Kaiser plan.

However, a complaint filed by retired educators remains pending. The complaint, which Fresno Unified said is baseless, alleges that the school district violated a 2010 court decision that protects retirees’ promised lifetime benefits. Amid disruptions, retirees maintained their benefits, but not as promised or as legally protected, they said.

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