What to Know before Open Enrollment Open Enrollment (OE) begins in October, but you can get a headstart by planning things out now! SDPEBA Benefits SDPEBA is working on a few important things to help make OE as simple as possible. New Website: We are working on a full website redesign to make it much easier to navigate and find information that’s important to you. We will send an announcement when it is ready! Email Campaigns: During OE we will be sending more emails abo

What to Know before Open Enrollment Open Enrollment (OE) begins in October, but you can get a headstart by planning things out now! SDPEBA Benefits SDPEBA is working on a few important things to help make OE as simple as possible. Events: We are expanding the number of worksite visits we are doing during OE. We are also doing what we can to encourage all of your vendors to attend! Keep an eye out for the next newsletter that will include our calendar of events. New Webs

Retiring in 2027? Let us Know! If you plan to retire next year, please email Support@SDPEBA.org. We will be able to help you set up your SDPEBA benefits, explain the options available to you, and give you important information you’ll want to know before you retire. Additionally, you may want to consider attending the Retiree Benefits Fair on 10/26. Important organizations such as: Retiree Health Service Center, SDCERS, REA, RFPA and more will be in attendance.

What to Know before Open Enrollment - Retirees Open Enrollment (OE) begins in October, but you can get a headstart by planning things out now! SDPEBA Benefits SDPEBA is working on a few important things to help make OE as simple as possible. Events: We are already planning the Retiree Benefits Fair! If you haven’t been, the Retiree Benefits Fair is an annual event that takes place in Balboa Park. Your benefit providers will be there to answer questions, help you enroll,

Explaining City vs PEBA Benefit Options Note: This information is based on the 2026 version of these plans. These differences might be subject to change. The City and SDPEBA offer overlapping plans that might make enrolling in your benefits slightly confusing. The difference between these plans often comes down to the provider, the amount of coverage it offers, and which bargaining unit you’re a part of All of the plans offered by the City and SDPEBA are great, but there

Aflac is one of SDPEBA’s most popular providers, but it is also the provider we get the most questions about. This article will go over what Aflac is, what plan options there are, and how to use the plan.  What is Aflac? There are 4 different Aflac plans: Accident, Critical Illness, Hospital Indemnity, and Life Insurance.  The main thing to know about Aflac is that it is claims based. The best way to think about it is that your plan kicks in after specific “events.” These

How to File an Aflac Claim If you do not want to file a claim online, you are able to file claims on paper, but the steps you’ll need to take are quite different. Check out the guide linked here. If you have an active Aflac plan you will be able to file a claim after a covered event. To file a claim, you’ll need to register on MyAflac and then you can use their online portal/app to easily file a claim. Once you are registered, you can file a claim by going onto MyAflac, c

SDPEBA Can Help Year Round SDPEBA is able to help you transition benefits into retirement, understand your benefit options, enroll in benefits, and more! Ultimately, SDPEBA is here to support you and your family. We know insurance can be hard to understand and very time consuming! Our job is to make your life easier!   Support Line  The number one way we help our members is through our benefit specialists who are here to answer your questions, help you file claims, and mak

You’re Eligible for SDPEBA Dental and Vision Insurance Did you know you’re able to enroll in dental and vision insurance through SDPEBA? If you’re in the market for a dental/vision plan, we highly recommend checking our plans out. Below is a quick summary of each plan we offer. MetLife Dental We offer two MetLife Dental plans, an HMO plan and a PPO plan. The plans both cover dental procedures and offer a $0 copay for annual cleanings and exams but differ greatly in how yo

How to find a GOOD Dentist Having a dentist you can trust is extremely important, but it is really easy to just pick the in-network provider who is closest to you or who you’ve been seeing for a long time. But you don’t have to stick to a single provider forever. What to Look for in a New Dentist Before you start looking: if you have dental insurance, be sure you’re looking at in-network providers who are accepting new patients. Check reviews, online photos, and social me

Protect your Gums! Gum health is extremely important! Not only does it help keep your breath fresh, it also prevents gum disease, tooth decay, and cavities! Here are some quick tips to keep your gums safe and healthy! Flossing is the most effective way to protect your gums. By flossing and brushing your teeth, you are removing plaque and debris from your gum line that attracts bacteria. Bacteria that causes gum disease, tooth decay, and cavities. Sugar is also a great fo

Aura can Help Protect you and your Family Online Summer Vacation usually means a lot of screentime, which means there’s a high chance for issues to arise while online. Viruses, scams, cyberbullying, you name it. These things can happen to anyone, but kids are more vulnerable. Aura’s family plan allows you to add up to 10 adults and unlimited minors onto your plan. This allows you to share Aura’s many features with your whole family. For a full list of features, click here.

Best Health’s Mental Health Resources Best Health is a free health app available to all SDPEBA members. The app provides fitness tracking, access to a real human health coach, and plenty of educational tools/resources. And the best part? By using Best Health, you can enter to win monthly raffles and giveaways! An often forgotten part of Best Health’s library is their articles on mental health. They cover everything from anxiety, depression, addiction, stress management, an

What is Purchasing Power? Purchasing Power is a program we’ve partnered with that allows you to take payroll deductions to afford more expensive appliances, technology, and furniture. Through Purchasing Power, you can utilize your paycheck to budget appropriately and make purchases without having to dip into your savings.     Purchasing Power is an online catalogue that helps ease the financial burden of large purchases and gets the products in your hands sooner rather than

How SDPEBA can help when you Retire When you’re planning retirement, we can help! Contact SDPEBA 6-12 months prior to retirement and we can make sure you maintain your benefits during this transition. We can also provide additional tips during the retirement process to make this relatively complicated process much easier! Retiree Health Plans SDPEBA also offers health insurance specific for retirees. We offer a Medicare Part C plan through Sharp (Sharp Direct Advantage). We

The Importance of Fosters People who foster animals are heroes, plain and simple! They are taking in a pet, who often times need extra help, and taking care of it for nothing in return. We wanted to use our final article for May as a place to shout them out and talk a little bit about the fostering process. Who can foster a pet? Anyone who can have a pet can also be a foster! Some pets need fostering for medical reasons, but most either have nowhere else to go or just to get

Looking for a Pet? Adopt, don’t Shop! Looking for a new furry or feathered friend? There are hundreds of local shelters who would be very happy to have you come and visit! This goes for dogs, cats, birds, reptiles, the list goes on! There are also dozens of breed specific adoption centers, so if you exclusively want a pug, you’re in luck. Below are a few links to lists of shelters: The SD Humane Society - https://www.sdhumane.org/     Helen Woodward Animal Center...

How to Use all of your Benefits (and not waste them) Be sure to make the most of your benefits this year! Below we put together a quick article that can give you tips to get started with whichever SDPEBA benefits you may have. Aflac Be sure to file Aflac claims for covered events! The accident plan, hospital plan, and critical illness plan all cover you for different things. If you have any of these plans review the plan’s brochure on our website to see if you could be

Spring Break Ideas Looking for things to do around this City for Spring Break this year? Check out this quick list for some local highlights! Stay at a Local Hotels or Resort Hotel Del, the Lodge in Torrey Pines, Mission Bay’s many hotels, the Town and Country in Mission Valley, and the dozens of B&B’s in Downtown are just a small sample of the great places you can stay and have a pampered experience in America’s Finest City.  Explore Balboa Park While paying for parkin

Sharp Networks Explained There are technically 4 variations of “Sharp” offered to SDPEBA members and each variation has a different network! While that might sound complicated, it’s a lot simpler than it sounds. The Different Plans: The four plans we offer are: Sharp Classic, Select, Saver, and Medicare Advantage. Active City employees have access to Classic, Select, and Saver. Retired employees have access to Sharp Direct Advantage, Classic, and Select. These plans offe