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CAPP laptop mockups

Simplifying CalPERS’ Retirement Premium Management

System Enhancement for the Complementary Annuitant Premium Program (CAPP) at CalPERS.

Roles
Product Designer
  • Led the design effort for a system enhancement to the myCalPERS Member Self-Service (MSS) platform.
  • Identified the impact of new business requirements across MSS modules.
  • Proposed design recommendations aligned with existing patterns and UX best practices.
  • Validated solutions through system testing before deployment.
  • Collaborated with Business Analysts (BA), developers, testers, subject matter experts (SMEs), and the Office of Public Affairs (PAOF).
Timeline
May-Sept 2025
Company
California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS)
Co-Primary Designer
Desiree Carbullido
Disciplines
  • UX Research
  • UX Writing
  • UI Design
Tools
  • Figma
  • HCL Workload Automation

What is the Complementary Annuitant Premium Program (CAPP)?

The Complementary Annuitant Premium Program (CAPP) allows eligible retirees the option to remain enrolled in a CalPERS-sponsored health plan when their retirement allowance isn’t sufficient to cover their full share of the monthly health premium. To enroll into CAPP, retirees need to 1). sign the affidavit and 2). make a payment before a due date to successfully enroll in the program.

The Problem

The current myCalPERS Member Self-Service (MSS) flow caused friction for CAPP members in two ways:

user needs and project perspective

The Design Process

CalPERS Design process

*BRD = Business Requirement Document
*LOE = Level of Effort
*QA = Quality Assurance

User Groups/Scenarios

personas

Existing Design

unhappy George
George wants to enroll into CAPP.
There’s two paths he can go through on MSS.
😃 Happy Path: Go through Health Summary, so that users:
  1. Sign the affidavit
  2. Make a Payment
Enroll in CAPP happy user flowexisting health summary wireframes
☹️ Sad Path: Go through Make a Payment. Users will skip the affidavit and only make the payment. Enrollment is incomplete.
sad path enrollment user flowexisting make a payment wireframe
unhappy Yolanda
Before the enhancement, if Yolanda wants to update her recurring payment, she must cancel the existing payment schedule and re-establish the new amount through Make a Payment.
make a payment existing flowexisting cancel and re-establishing payment wireframes
Solution 1 and 2

Future Design

happy George
George can now enroll into CAPP successfully —whether he starts from Health Summary or Make a Payment, he will be able to sign the affidavit and make a payment.
😃 Now when George goes through Make a Payment, he will be kicked into the CAPP flow.
designed make a payment user flowdesigned make a payment wireframe
happy Yolanda
Now, Yolanda can update her recurring payment with one click.
😃 Now when Yolanda makes a health plan change. She can just update her recurring payment in one flow.
designed update recurring payment flowdesigned recurring payment wireframes

Key Learnings

Designing within a complex legacy system

Working on myCalPERS taught me how to design strategically within a decades-old, highly interconnected system. Instead of creating entirely new pages, I leveraged existing interfaces while considering the ripple effects across multiple programs that used shared components. This experience strengthened my ability to balance user needs with system constraints.

Show, don’t just ask

I learned the importance of showing ideas rather than simply asking questions. By creating quick visuals or prototypes, I was able to spark more productive conversations, clarify intent, and speed up decision-making—especially when working on projects with short turnarounds.

Future Enhancements

Auto-update for recurring payments

Stakeholders raised the opportunity to reduce friction during annual health premium increases. Instead of requiring members to manually update recurring payments, the system could automatically adjust payments in line with annual premium changes. This idea is currently under exploration with IT and stakeholders, as it may involve legal and technical considerations.