CalPERS opened its annual open-enrollment period on Sept. 15, 2025, with staff reporting heavy demand at its call center and ongoing efforts to improve member self-service and outreach. CalPERS staff said the call center received more than 8,000 calls on the first day of open enrollment and that the average wait time for callers was about 16½ minutes; callers who called after 4 p.m. generally experienced significantly shorter waits.

The report to the Pension and Health Benefits Committee emphasized that open enrollment runs through Oct. 10, giving members 26 days to change plans or add dependents. CalPERS staff also described a multi‑pronged member‑education push that includes a newly produced monthly video that had received thousands of views, a retiree webinar scheduled for Dec. 9, and expanded Spanish‑language class offerings and a Spanish open‑enrollment newsletter.

Why it matters: Open enrollment is the annual moment when active and retired members can change health plans; high call volume and outreach effectiveness directly affect members’ ability to make timely, informed choices.

Most of the committee’s customer‑service update came from CalPERS staff, who also provided numbers for the agency’s ongoing benefit‑verification efforts. Staff said the 2025 benefit‑verification cycle has identified overpayments and recoveries: the presentation reported a figure of $3,500,000 in overpayments identified for the 2025 cycle, with $2,600,000 collected to date (about 74% of the identified total). A vendor CalPERS uses to verify deaths, SoCure, was reported to have confirmed deaths that led to additional overpayment identifications and additional recoveries; staff said the program and related activities led to nearly $151 million in recovered overpayments over the past two years.

Discussion and next steps: Staff said they will continue to target unregistered members to increase myCalPERS self‑service adoption — as of Aug. 15, staff reported about 62% of members (roughly 1.5 million) had registered — and will continue to publish materials and run webinars to reduce undeliverable mail and help prevent fraud. Committee members praised the call‑center and benefits teams for their work and asked staff to share a short “cheat sheet” on benefit‑verification timing and the criteria that determine which members are included in verification lists.

Ending note: Staff urged members and employers to use the online resources and upcoming webinars during the 26-day open‑enrollment window.