Statement on Health Care Costs for Union-Represented Employees

Health care costs are rising nationally, and the University of California is not immune. These increases are consistent with other public employers in California. For example, CalPERS announced an overall weighted premium increase of 10.79 percent for 2025. Additional reporting can be found here, here and here.

Despite increasing costs, UC remains committed to providing all employees with equitable access to affordable health care. For example, UC has a long-standing practice of tiering its employee's health care contributions, ensuring that individuals pay less if they make less.

UC also worked closely with health plan partners to balance benefit quality with affordability. Premium contributions will increase, but UC will continue to pay a significant portion of the cost: $2.99 billion in 2025 to help reduce the impact on UC employees.

In most cases, represented employee health care costs will mirror the increases for the UC workforce subject to any special provisions in their contracts. Because we are negotiating with AFSCME and UPTE and their collective bargaining agreements have expired, premiums for these employees will be held at 2024 rates until the parties complete negotiations. Currently, UC has proposed premium subsidies to offset health care premium increases. If accepted by the union, these increases would reduce monthly premium costs by $75 or $100 per employee, with the larger amount reserved for lower-paid workers. These credits amount to $1,200 annually for employees, as much as 2.5 percent in additional compensation to offset these increases.

UC pays an average 85 percent of medical coverage cost for a single employee ($21,000 per year in 2025) and over 80 percent of the cost of coverage for a family. For employees making less than $71,000, UC pays 91 percent of the cost of coverage. By comparison, national averages for employer contribution are around 83 percent of coverage cost for a single employee and 71 percent for a family.

While premium costs for dental and vision coverage will also increase in 2025, UC will offset that increase by continuing to contribute 100 percent of the cost for eligible employees and their covered dependents.

For additional information: University of California Systemwide HR Vice President Cheryl Lloyd's letter to the community about the increases and Frequently asked questions about Open Enrollment changes for UC employees.

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