CalPERS reports heavy open‑enrollment activity, recovers millions in overpayments and expands member education

CalPERS staff told trustees on Sept. 16 that open enrollment for health benefits had begun and the agency’s call center handled heavy volume. Staff reported that a call center operation received more than 8,000 calls on the first day of open enrollment and that average wait time was about 16½ minutes, although calling later in the day reduced waits to roughly four minutes.

Staff provided updates on the 2025 benefit verification exercise and other overpayment initiatives. CalPERS reported it identified about $3.5 million in overpayments in the current verification cycle and collected approximately $2.6 million (about 74%). The death‑verification vendor SoCure reported 598 confirmed deaths since 2024 that CalPERS had associated with $5.9 million in overpayments; CalPERS said it had collected nearly $4.7 million (about 80%) of that amount. Over the last two years, CalPERS said it had recovered nearly $151 million in overpayments from various initiatives.

Staff said the agency had completed a baseline assessment for myCalPERS self‑service registration and that 62% (about 1.5 million) of members had registered with a myCalPERS account as of Aug. 15; the communication push aims to increase registrations to improve member outreach and reduce undeliverable mail. CalPERS also announced member education activities, including a new retiree webinar scheduled for Dec. 9 and expanded Spanish‑language class offerings; staff said a Spanish retirement class piloted in Orange received a 100% satisfaction rating from 72 attendees.

CalPERS reminded members that open enrollment runs 26 days through Oct. 10 and encouraged use of online resources and planned webinars, including a CVS Caremark‑hosted pharmacy transition webinar. Staff said it will continue close monitoring of call‑center metrics and partner performance to reduce member friction during the plan‑change period.