After this week’s announcement that UC will drop four medical plans next year, UC Davis Human Resources followed up with an important message for employees and retirees who have Sutter Health doctors in the plans that are being discontinued:

You will continue to have access to the Sutter network through three other plans.

Two of them are new: the Blue Shield Health Savings Plan, featuring a UC-funded health savings account; UC Care, UC’s own PPO (preferred provider organization) that will offer access to UC doctors and hospitals. The third will be the Blue Shield Core Plan (in place of the Anthem Blue Cross Core Plan).

Besides Anthem Blue Cross Core, UC is also dropping Health Net HMO (health maintenance organization), Anthem Blue Cross PPO, and Anthem Lumenos PPO with HRA (health reimbursement account).

The new plans offer broad, nationwide networks of doctors and hospitals through Blue Shield, including UC’s medical centers, and both are expected to have lower monthly premiums than Health Net HMO, Anthem Blue Cross PPO and Anthem Blue Cross PLUS.

Gil Sebastian, UC Davis benefits supervisor, has asked employees and retirees to be patient for more details — because even his office doesn’t have them all.

He explained that the Office of the President has chosen to release information as it becomes available, to allow ample time for employees and retirees to prepare for the changes.

“In-depth training for benefits staff will occur on Oct. 1,” Sebastian said in a Sept. 5 email to the campus. “In the interim, we ask that you defer any in-depth questions until after that date and continue to review information on the At Your Service website.”

Actual plan benefits and costs are not yet known but will be announced as soon as they are finalized, he said.

Brochures are due to go in the mail in mid-October, and open enrollment is scheduled from Oct. 28 to Nov. 26 (two days before Thanksgiving).

Officials said UC plans extensive communication and education throughout the fall to help faculty, staff and retirees make good choices. Look for special pages on At Your Service starting in mid-September, officials said.

Read the UC announcement about big changes and new choices: English and Spanish.