SUAA-University of Illinois Chapter

Resources and Information about the TRAIL change to Aetna

For SURS participants who also are eligible for Medicare

Background: CMS awarded a 5-year contract to Aetna to manage the TRAIL Medicare advantage plan, replacing United Healthcare. As part of this change, TRAIL participants will no longer have an HMO option, only a PPO option. Further, as of late October, neither Carle Hospital nor the Carle Physicians Group have signed an agreement with Aetna to accept in-network charges, so all services obtained at Carle will be out-of-network. Carle has also not stated whether it will continue to accept patients in the TRAIL system.

Under this new contract, CMS will pay nothing to Aetna for our health coverage; Aetna will be reimbursed directly from Medicare. As a result, premiums paid by participants with less than 20 years of service and premiums for dependents will be signficantly lower for the life of the contract.

The TRAIL benefits choice period for those eligible for Medicare is Nov. 1 to Nov. 30, 2022. SUAA-UIUC has assembled information about the change to Aetna to help retirees decide what is the best option for their healthcare in 2023. We urge you to attend one of the meetings, talk to your healthcare providers, and examine the alternatives presented.

Useful documents about the changes in TRAIL

Overview of change - letter from CMS
Schedule of CMS/Aetna meetings about the change
Note: all Champaign locations are now filled
FAQ: Changes to TRAIL drug coverage
Aetna TRAIL 2023 program details and costs:
State Employee Program
College Insurance Program
Teacher’s Retirement Insurance Program
Aetna explanation of out-of-network costs (Not clear if this will apply to our program; CMS claims that in-network costs will be the same as out-of-network for doctors who have accepted the Aetna schedule of payments. For doctors who have not accepted the schedule, there is no limit to the charges owed by patient, and these charges might not count toward the out-of-pocket maximum.)

SUAA-UIUC's October 25 town hall meeting on TRAIL changes

Please accept our apologies for the poor quality of the audio on Zoom for our Fall meeting; the Zoom from Linda Brookhart's presentation is not audible. We asked Linda to record her presentation again and have posted it below, along with Carol Livingstone's presentation. We have also posted the complete video, including the inaudible parts.

Full meeting, including parts with bad audio
Video of Carol Livingstone presentation from 10/25
Video of Linda Brookhart presentation, recorded 10/26

Handout: Some resources for evaluating Medicare Advantage Plans (PDF)
SUAA-UIUC spreadsheet comparing Champaign Medicare Advantage plans Excel PDF
Slides from SUAA-UIUC Oct. 25 meeting: PDF Powerpoint

Resources to find alternatives to TRAIL

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Last Updated October 27, 2022
Web Master: C. Livingstone