Fresno Unified retirees filed a class action lawsuit against the school district, alleging it caused serious harm to retirees’ health and well-being by switching retirees’ healthcare plan to a Medicare Advantage plan in 2023.
The lawsuit, filed by Emily Brandt, a retired Bullard High School English teacher, represents a class of 6,200 retirees. The suit accuses Fresno Unified of failing to engage active employees and retirees in the decision-making process in 2023 to change the health benefit plan from the traditional Medicare plus a district-paid self-funded secondary insurance to a for-profit Aetna Medicare Advantage plan.
The impact of this change surfaced earlier this year when Community Health System, Fresno area’s largest network of clinics and hospitals, fell into a network dispute with Aetna’s Medicare Advantage, leaving retirees with limited or no access to their primary healthcare services for a month…