VEBA Trust searching for a replacement insurance carrier
Posted: December 18, 2025
The HSTA Voluntary Employees Beneficiary Association (VEBA) Trust recently announced that Unum Insurance will no longer accept new customers for its long-term care coverage starting Feb. 1.
In a letter to HSTA VEBA Trust participants earlier this month, the trust said, “Unum is making this change due to a shift in the market and evolving customer needs. Our group plan was designed three decades ago, and since that time, there have been significant and accelerating changes in the LTC (long-term care) business.”
“Unum found it necessary to ensure the product remains actuarially sound to protect your coverage and their ability to meet claims,” HSTA VEBA said.
Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association members who are already enrolled in the long-term policy are NOT IMPACTED by this change, including those with the base plan that covers $1,000 a month in long-term care fees if you have any other HSTA VEBA insurance products.
If you have the base plan now, you can decide at any time to apply to increase your coverage levels, and you will not be affected by these changes. Existing coverage remains unchanged, and no action is required for existing customers.
The HSTA VEBA Trust office will continue to serve as the plan administrator for the Unum Group Long-Term Care policy. The trust will also continue to collect monthly premiums and submit payments to Unum on behalf of customers.
If existing customers would like to add coverage for a spouse, adult children, siblings, parents or in-laws (for adults aged 18 to 84), they must do so by Jan. 30, 2026. Time is running out to enroll your family members, so apply soon at this link.
The trust’s letter to participants includes answers to frequently asked questions. Contact the trust for more information via email at contact@hstaveba.org, on its website and by phone at (808) 440-6940 or from the neighbor islands (800) 637-4926.
The HSTA VEBA Trust is seeking a new insurance company to offer long-term care coverage to those not enrolled, and the trust will notify its participants when a new provider is selected.
Roger Takabayashi, who served as president of HSTA from 2003 to 2009, chairs the HSTA VEBA Trust.
“The actuarial studies from when we started this in 1999, they didn’t expect people to stay in long-term care,” for an extended period of time, Takabayashi said.
Back then, he said, “After two and a half years, you were generally out of a care home. People generally passed away after 2.7 years.”
“But now, because of Alzheimer’s, dementia and all of these conditions, and even strokes are hitting people at such a young age, they’re coming back in need of services for a longer period of time. The cost going out is greater than the money coming in,” Takabayshi added.
“After an initial inquiry, it seems that we had such a great Unum product that the next product is going to cost considerably more just because of the signs of the times,” he said.
“We’ll try to find the best product for our future teachers and people who don’t have a program right now,” Takabayashi said.
The HSTA VEBA Trust spends nearly $475,000 annually to subsidize long-term, accident, and short-term income protection insurance coverage for HSTA members, Takabayashi said.
Long-term care coverage: ‘That peace of mind is just wonderful’
Takabayashi’s longtime partner, retired teacher Susan Hagiwara, decided to upgrade her long-term care policy with HSTA VEBA trust, since her parents died relatively young in their early 70s and her brother passed away in his mid-60s, Takabayashi said.
“She anticipated something because of her parents’ passing so early,” he said.
After she upgraded her coverage, she suffered a stroke, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, and another condition that has rendered her quadriplegic, he said, so she’s living in a nursing home now.
Because she had long-term care coverage, “Unum takes care of the entire bill. So we never had to worry about the financial aspects of her care,” Takabayashi said.
“That peace of mind is just wonderful,” he added.
Hagiwara spent most of her career as a special education teacher and retired as a student services coordinator at Aiea High. She served as an HSTA board member from Central Chapter. In retirement, she served as secretary of HSTA-Retired. She has also funded a micro-grant program through the Hawaiʻi Education Association and HSTA-Retired, offering $5,000 annually to special education teachers for special projects.
The HSTA VEBA Trust was established in 1985 to provide life, sick, accident, and other benefits as permitted by law to its members and their qualified dependents or beneficiaries. It serves about 8,000 active and retired members.
“We always try to find the best product for our teachers at the most reasonable cost, but we understand the hardships. You know, we are all teachers on the trust. All the trustees are teachers. And so we know the hardships that they go through. So we will be looking for the best product that we can,” Takabayashi said.