Fresno Unified adds another health care option for retirees. Here are the details
The Fresno Unified board that oversees the district’s employee health benefits voted on Thursday to offer retirees an additional health care option amid continued uncertainty over their access to services.
The decision by the district’s Joint Health Management Board, announced Thursday, would give retirees the option to enroll in traditional Medicare with a preferred provider organization, or PPO, plan as secondary insurance.
The alternative option, which takes effect January 1, 2027, would give district retirees with three separate health care options, according to the district.
“This would give retirees the choice to remain on their Medicare Advantage Plan, which we believe many will choose to do, or to enroll in a plan similar to what was offered prior to 2023,” said Manuel Bonilla, president of the Fresno Teachers Association.
Thursday’s decision follows the recent network dispute between Aetna, the district’s for-profit PPO private insurer, and Community Health System that left over 6,000 retirees and their dependents without access to the region’s largest local network of clinics and hospitals.
Bonilla said the new insurance option does not solve the current situation, and it will not spare retirees from future involvement in other potential network disputes.
“It is also important to be clear that this approach would not have prevented and will not necessarily prevent in the future, network disruptions, which are simply an unfortunate reality in our healthcare system,” Bonilla said. “In the meantime, the responsibility to fix this immediately rests squarely with the Community Regional Medical and Aetna.”
Bonilla said the district had asked the Community Health System for a 30-day contract extension to ensure retirees could continue receiving full medical services during negotiations. CHS said Wednesday it would restore partial services for retirees, such as clinic visits and prescription refills, through Feb. 20.
Negotiations between Atena and Community Health System remained deadlocked as of Wednesday.
Currently, Fresno Unified retirees have access to two medical benefit options: Aetna’s Medicare Advantage PPO and Kaiser Senior Advantage HMO, the latter of which is unaffected by the network dispute.
The district said the health board decided on a 2027 implementation due to regulatory requirements and to give retirees time to understand their health care options. Retirees will be able to elect this choice during the standard open enrollment period between Oct. 1 through Nov. 30.
Fresno Unified’s Joint Health Management Board manages health care benefits for more than 30,000 active employees, retirees and their dependents. The board consists of representatives from the district’s administration and its public employee unions.
Patrick Jensen, the district’s chief financial officer, said the actual plan for this new option is still being finalized. The district does not know the rate cost per member and how many retirees will elect to this option.
“The JHMB just voted today on the creation of this plan. The cost per member that JHMB will pay and all of those details will need to be worked out over the next couple of months as providers are chosen and as over vendors are chosen,” Jensen said.
For Aetna’s Medicare Advantage PPO, the district is paying $531.48 per retiree per month for the year of 2026, according to the district documents.
This story was originally published January 15, 2026 at 1:43 PM.
