Retiree Medical Plans
Compare Medical Plans & Costs
Active employees and official retirees can use this tool to compare medical benefits, as well as plan costs.
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Health care termination letter sent in error
Recently, you may have received a letter stating that your health care coverage was terminated. This notice was sent in error, and you can disregard it. Your benefit coverage has not changed, unless you have made valid changes since receiving the notice.
If you have questions, log on to review your account on the My Benefits portal. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused.
Choosing and personalizing your benefits depends on your specific health care needs, doctor preferences, budget, and the type of plan you prefer.
For retirees, we offer three types of medical plans. View more information about Medicare eligibility or select one of the plans below to learn more. Read the Retiree Medical Plan FAQ to learn more about becoming an official retiree, different contribution methods, and the break-in-service policy.
1. Medicare Advantage Plan
We offer a Medicare Advantage plan that works hand-in-hand with your Medicare benefits. You assign your Medicare benefits to the Medicare Advantage HMO you select, and the HMO coordinates with Medicare. There are no claim forms to fill out, and your only out-of-pocket costs are your copayments.
How These Plans Work
Medicare Advantage plans work the same as your active employee HMO. With Kaiser, all care must be within a Kaiser facility. You may select a primary care physician (PCP) from your plan's network of doctors to coordinate all your care after Kaiser has received your enrollment. And as with all HMOs, you receive no benefits if you go outside your network, unless you have an emergency.
In 2025, we offered one Medicare Advantage Plan:
For 2026, we are introducing two additional Medicare Advantage Plans, in addition to Kaiser Senior Advantage CA:
If you enroll in a Medicare Plan, you have to complete a Medicare Advantage Form prior to the effective date of coverage. CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) requires that you use a physical address for your permanent/home address. A PO Box may not be used for your mailing address. If you change your address (with Social Security, CMS, the Post Office, the health plan, or Stanford) to an address outside of the local service area, regardless of whether you are just living or traveling temporarily, you may become ineligible for the Medicare Advantage Plan.
If you choose to leave a Medicare Advantage plan to join a non-Medicare Advantage plan, you will need to complete a Disenrollment Form.
View Frequently Asked Questions View 2026 contribution rates
2. Medicare Supplement Plan
Under a Stanford Medicare Supplement plan, Medicare is the primary medical plan for you and your dependents. You can go to any provider; however, you will have lower costs if you use a provider who accepts Medicare assignment. The Medicare Supplement plan pays benefits after you receive payment from Medicare.
For 2026, the current Blue Shield Retiree PPO Supplement Plan will move from a Retiree Drug Subsidy type plan to a Part D structure. This change requires you to be enrolled in Medicare Part D to receive the prescription drug benefit.
View Frequently Asked Questions View 2026 contribution rates
You have the option to opt out by declining coverage in the My Benefits portal by Nov. 7. Please be aware that once you waive Stanford Retiree Coverage, you will not be able to enroll back into the plan in the future.
3. Non-Medicare Plans
If both you and your dependents are non-Medicare eligible, you receive active employee medical benefits.
Compliance
Transparency in Coverage - Machine Readable Files
The Transparency in Coverage rule released by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of Labor, and the Department of the Treasury requires group health plans, such as Stanford’s, and health insurers to make price information available to consumers. We are required to post the following links for each of our medical plan vendors, effective July 1, 2022. The information available through these links is provided in good faith compliance with the Machine-Readable Files approach. These files display negotiated rates for covered items and services between the health plans and in-network providers for the plans. Some in-network provider arrangements do not prescribe rates for all covered items and services. In those cases, the provider’s reimbursement might be determined in several different ways, but this file would not contain that information. Pharmacy Machine readable files are not an enforced requirement and will not be available.
Aetna - Machine Readable Files
Blue Shield of California - Machine Readable Files
Kaiser - Machine Readable Files