“The costs are different from what they were a year ago, but the costs of maintaining Medicare and senior HMOs have been rising precipitously over the past several years,” he said. “There have been quite a large number of these plan closures across the U.S.”
Murmurs of criticism from faculty have persisted, however, according to Rosenthal.
“I heard from the benefits office that there were a couple of faculty members that were concerned that their retirement benefits were changing,” he said. “But that’s not true at all. Anything that changes causes a little bit of concern.”
Erving Research Professor of Chemistry William Klemperer ’50 said he was surprised at the change, but like most HUGHP members, he will remain with UHS by switching to the MedEx plan.
“They dropped me, and I had to join a different plan,” he said. “I thought I was happy with the HUGHP plan.”
—Staff writer Leon Neyfakh can be reached at neyfakh@fas.harvard.edu.