The Los Angeles Unified School District announced promising results on May 1 from a new approach to providing health care benefits to retired employees. The effort was created by the LAUSD and its labor partners last summer and formally implemented in January.

LAUSD and its Health Benefits Committee implemented a 50 State Anthem Preferred Medicare Advantage Plan for Medicare-eligible retirees and their eligible dependents. The new plan will provide approximately $50 million in annual savings for the district and reduce its other post-employment benefits obligation by $3.8 billion.

Over 20,000 of the Medicare-eligible retirees and their dependents from LAUSD have been transitioned to the new Anthem Preferred Medicare Advantage Plan from other plans.

“We must continue to find savings and make sure all of our money is going to schools and classrooms,” LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner said. “This effort is a great example of the progress we are making working together with our labor partners.”

“UTLA is very proud to be part of the LAUSD Health Benefits Committee,” added Alex Caputo-Pearl, president of United Teachers Los Angeles. “Los Angeles Unified and the unions representing their employees have worked together to find significant annual health care savings for the district and to dramatically decrease future health care liabilities. This collective effort to reduce costs, without any health care cuts for the people who dedicate their lives to students, should serve as a model of collaboration for the future.”