Please read the posts below on increases in our health insurance premiums, share widely, and take the suggested action of sending emails to the heads of HLIS and FAFICS:
The key question is whether participants have enough information, delivered in a timely manner to allow them to make decisions, to understand how health insurance premiums were calculated (35% increase for Aetna), why these particular changes were chosen, and whether all reasonable cost-containment measures have been pursued before shifting more costs and financial risk onto participants.
Friday, August 7, 2026
"UN After Service Health Insurance - Call on UN retirees to take action, August 7, 2026
Send an email to HLIS and to FAFICS to demand accountability (suggested content of emails below)..."
https://unpension.blogspot.com/2026/08/un-after-service-health-insurance-call.html
UN Health Insurance: What's Changing in 2026, 7 August 2026
"UN Health Insurance Changes Effective 1 July 2026 - and analysis of information presented in the HLIS webinar, 21 May 2026
https://unpension.blogspot.com/2026/08/un-health-insurance-whats-changing-in.html
Reading this, my experience with Cigna comes to mind and illustrates what may happen when healthcare is treated as a commercial transaction.
ReplyDeleteA few years ago, when my now-deceased wife was diagnosed with breast cancer, a Cigna representative telephoned her and aggressively questioned whether she was genuinely ill. The call came when she was at her most vulnerable—and after Cigna had already received her full diagnosis from a hospital with which it had worked for many years. It was not merely insensitive; it was callous and inexcusable.
More recently, while I was still living in Spain, I was prescribed Ozempic for diabetes. Because Ozempic was frequently unavailable, my doctor prescribed Wegovy instead. Both contain the same active ingredient, semaglutide, although they are marketed for different purposes. Wegovy was readily available but more expensive. When submitting my claim, I explained the circumstances and offered to pay the difference in cost myself. But Cigna refused to pay anything.
I could make the list of poor treatment at Cigna’s hands much longer, but these two cases may illustrate the larger problem. Some services do not lend themselves well to a system in which financial incentives come first. A person suffering a heart attack cannot shop around among hospitals in search of the best price.
Having moved to Sweden, I have now left the UN health insurance scheme. After 50 years of paying into it.