By admin 
When dietitian Erin Nella considered appearing in a UC Davis Health advertisement with her 4-year-old daughter, she thought it was an easy decision. Her daughter, Giada, receives treatment through the university health system for nephrotic syndrome — a kidney disorder — and the family is grateful for the care. It doesn’t hurt that Giada loves a photoshoot.
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The commercial showed a tender family moment: Giada colors while laying on floor before jumping up with a smile to hug her mother as she walks in. It appeared on streaming platforms like Netflix and social media.
“I get why they want to show her, she’s adorable,” said Nella, who works for UC Davis Health.
As open enrollment starts Thursday, Nella and her colleagues learned their health benefits were about to get more expensive.
UC Davis is phasing out a supplemental subsidy that capped out-of-pocket maximums on its Blue and Gold plan at $1,000 for individuals and $3,000 for families, according to university records and the University Professional and Technical Employees union. UPTE represents technical, healthcare and research workers. Under the change, those ceilings will jump to $3,000 for individuals and $6,000 for families.
For Nella, the hike turns an ad celebrating her daughter’s care into a painful irony — calling the shift offensive in an interview with The Sacramento Bee. Nella said absorbing the new out-of-pocket costs will force her to divert money from family savings toward medical bills just to keep her daughter healthy.
“I was really appalled and offended that they would use me and my family in this way only to increase our costs by thousands of dollars after we’ve tried to give back in the ways that we could,” she said.
The university said Nella “volunteered to appear with her family in UC Davis Health advertising.”
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The mother isn’t alone. Family health physician, Dr. Pauline Perez, has worked at UC Davis Health for more than two decades. She is also affected by the change.
“I have a major surgery that I’m going to need to do and … to switch to a whole different insurance plan would mean finding new doctors and everything,” Perez said.
The subsidy has been in place for six years, according to UC Davis. The university was the only UC system location to offer the supplemental subsidy last year.
University officials say the subsidy’s sunset shouldn’t be a surprise.
“The supplemental subsidy was originally established as a five-year program, which was communicated to employees when it was introduced,” said UC Davis spokesperson James Nash in a statement. “UC Davis did extend the subsidy for a sixth year, through 2026.”
Physicians in the UC system, like Perez, aren’t part of a union — at least not yet. Their Blue and Gold plans are generally more expensive. Health insurance costs are part of the reason why physicians at UC’s medical centers are collecting cards to unionize, according to Perez.
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Perez said her monthly premium rate is more than $675 compared to about $425 three years ago. Blue and Gold premiums can cost double for non-union physicians compared to their colleagues, such as dietitians, covered by UPTE.
A UC Davis spokesperson said employees can fall into one of more than 300 different rate possibilities making “comparisons of (premium) rates … very difficult.” This is, in part, due to a salary-based contribution structure.
“An employee making $75,000 or less per year has the lowest monthly premium options (health insurance for the employee and their children could be $42.14 a month),” Nash said in a statement. “Employees earning an annual income of $148,000 or less would pay slightly more, and employees making over $223,000 pay the highest amounts for health insurance.”
“UPTE-represented employee(s) making between $75,001 and $148,000, and enrolled in the UC Blue & Gold plan (for self and children) would pay $199 per month in 2027,” he added.
Physicians aren’t the only ones with increased premium costs, according to data provided by the union. The average premium cost among plans for UPTE-represented employees increased 5.2% this year.
That’s similar to premium increases seen in insurance plans administered to state workers by the California Public Employees’ Retirement System. Those premiums increased on average by 5%. Nationwide, premiums increased about 9%.
Increased healthcare costs aren’t isolated to public employees, according to Kristof Stremikis, California Health Care Foundation market analysis and insight director.
Healthcare premium costs have generally increased about 25% from 2022 to 2025, according to the California Health Care Foundation. Employers have primarily covered the increase as worker contributions on average increased by 9% during that same period. The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco also reports businesses’ health insurance costs are higher.
“We are in an affordability crisis,” Stremikis said. “Premiums are increasing, deductibles are increasing, copayments are increasing, and so everywhere you look across every market in California, healthcare is getting more expensive and that is a squeeze on everyone’s paycheck.”
But as both employers and workers faced increased economic pressures, it leaves employees like Nella wondering if they’ll look for a better benefits package elsewhere.
“I’ve wanted to work here to build up this institution,” Nella said. “I’m very good at what I do, and I get recruiters from other institutions across the country every week.”
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