8/19/2026

Dear Faculty and Staff Colleagues,

As the Medical Plan Advisory & Review Committee (MPARC) moves into the final phase of its work, several important themes are becoming clearer about the health care environment, what faculty and staff value most in our medical benefits, and how those findings are shaping our work for 2027.

What We’re Learning

The health care market remains challenging. Employers and health plans across the region are experiencing significant increases in medical and prescription drug costs. Puget Sound experienced a notable increase in medical plan costs for 2026, and we are projecting continued cost increases for 2027. This reinforces the importance of MPARC’s work to identify a sustainable approach that balances affordability, access, and quality.

Faculty and staff have been clear about what matters most. Fifty-five percent of benefits-eligible faculty and staff participated in our medical plan survey, providing MPARC with valuable insight into the experiences and priorities of our community. Through the survey and other feedback, three priorities have emerged as particularly important: affordability, meaningful choice, and equity.

These priorities have become guiding principles for MPARC as we consider our recommendations for the university’s medical benefits.

How This Is Shaping Our Work

One important conclusion from our work is that a single medical plan may not serve every employee or family equally well. Faculty and staff differ in the providers they use, how frequently they access health care, how they prefer to balance monthly premiums with out-of-pocket costs, and the amount of financial risk they are comfortable assuming.

MPARC is therefore exploring a multi-plan approach for 2027 that could provide employees with greater ability to choose the combination of cost, coverage, and provider access that best meets their needs.

While specific plan designs, employee premiums, and the university contribution strategy are still being modeled, the committee is evaluating a structure that could include:

  • a qualified high-deductible health plan paired with a Health Savings Account (HSA);
  • a PPO option using Premera’s Prime network (similar to our current plan); and
  • the opportunity to “buy up” to Premera’s broader Heritage network.

No final recommendation has been determined at this point. MPARC continues to evaluate these options against our guiding principles of affordability, choice, and equity and to model their financial impact for both employees and the university.

What Happens Next

MPARC is on track to present its recommendation for the 2027 medical plan offering(s) to President Crawford by the end of August. Following that review, we look forward to sharing the recommendation with faculty and staff at an in-person presentation on Tuesday, Sept. 15, from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. in Thomas Hall Tahoma Room.

We also recognize that some of the options under consideration may be less familiar to members of our community. To help faculty and staff understand how different medical plan designs work — and the tradeoffs among premiums, deductibles, out-of-pocket costs, provider networks, and tax-advantaged accounts — we will offer additional Medical Benefits 101 sessions in September:

  • Sept. 21, 10:30-11:30 a.m. in Collins Memorial Library Conference Room 054 
  • Sept. 24, 3:30-4:30 p.m. via Zoom 

These sessions are intended to provide education about medical benefits and the health care marketplace so that faculty and staff are well prepared to understand the options ultimately recommended for 2027. These are repeats of sessions offered earlier this summer.

Stay Informed and Engaged

In the meantime, we encourage you to visit the MPARC webpage, where you can find information about the committee’s work, Medical Benefits 101 resources, Questions and Answers, and the project timeline. Faculty and staff may also continue to schedule a one-on-one consultation with an MPARC member to ask questions or share perspectives. These engagement opportunities are already part of the committee’s process. 

The perspectives shared by faculty and staff throughout this process have meaningfully shaped MPARC’s work. Thank you for your continued engagement as we work toward a medical benefits strategy that reflects the priorities of our community and is sustainable for the future.

Sincerely,

Kim Kvaal, EVP and CFO | Chair, Medical Plan Advisory & Review Committee (MPARC)

Nancy Nieraeth, Chief People Officer