A number of University of Kansas retirees received a surprise letter from Aetna Medicare RX in December stating that their prescription drugs would no longer be covered after Jan. 1.

The error occurred because an incorrect file, listing retirees who are on the state employee health plan, was sent to Aetna by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, Gerald Kratochvil, communications director with KDHE, told the Journal-World. Aetna saw the names and sent out letters to everyone on the file “confirming they were disenrolled.”

Kratochvil said he did not know how many people were affected.

“This was corrected and Aetna sent letters to those members letting them know their coverage was not canceled. This would have impacted the individuals’ January 1, 2019, prescription drug coverage, but this was resolved last week and they all have their coverage in place,” Kratochvil said.

The letter made for an anxious Christmas at the home of Lee Gerhard, the retired director and state geologist with the Kansas Geological Survey.

“My wife and I received notice we were disenrolled ‘at our request’ late the afternoon of December 24,” Gerhard said. “Needless to say, I was on the phone to Aetna early on the 26th.”

Gerhard found out there had been an error that been corrected for his wife and that she had been re-enrolled. But it took a little longer for him to get reinstated. Gerhard said it was upsetting.

“We have enough chaos in our lives,” he said. “We received both confirmations that we were disenrolled and confirmation we were re-enrolled. We’ll see. At least my prescriptions were honored today.”

Kratochvil didn’t think anyone was denied a prescription because of the error. The disenrollment didn’t go into effect until Jan. 1, and letters reinstating people were received by Dec. 30.

“It was a screwy thing,” Kratochvil said.