Kevin Knauss: Health, History, Travel, Insurance
Posts related to health insurance plans offered by Anthem Blue Cross in California for individuals, families, small groups, Medicare, Medi-Cal.
How health insurance companies and health plans determine premium rate increases is a little bit of a mystery. Covered California didn’t add to the consumer’s understanding of this process when they released their 2015 health insurance booklet. The plan rates booklet is mostly marketing material and fails to provide specific rates by region, carrier, and […]
The Anthem Blue Cross of California provider network just got larger as of July 1st when Blue Cross members can enroll in LiveHealth Online to consult with a doctor through the Internet using a regular computer, tablet or smart phone. The cost for the doctor visit or online consultation, in lieu of actually visiting a […]
Thanks to the Affordable Care Act all individual and family plans now include coverage for maternity care. These new health services, many of which are provided at no cost to the patient, also extend to the new born. Prominent in many private health plans is coverage for routine infant circumcision.
Anthem Blue Cross of California announced that they are shipping new and improved membership cards for individuals and families in the Exclusive Provider Organization (EPO) health plans in California. The new cards will have the very important three little letters of EPO actually imprinted on the card.
At a hastily arranged conference call for insurance agents to address a variety of issues involving new individual and family health plans for California, the Anthem Blue Cross Regional Sales Manager for Northern California announced they were extending the payment deadline until January 31st for policies sold through Covered California with effective dates of January 1st, 2014. This is the third time Anthem has extended the deadline for new enrollments.
One of the biggest questions I get is, “When will Covered California send me a bill for the health insurance?” Unfortunately, Covered California doesn’t invoice for the health insurance, that is left up to the insurance companies. If your application has been successfully transmitted to the insurance company you can make your first premium payment over the phone. Some applications have not, and may never, actually make it to your selected insurance company.
Consumers are growing frustrated as they find their current doctors aren’t included in new Covered California individual and family plan (IFP) health insurance networks. There is also widespread uncertainty about the rules of in-network providers with the new Exclusive Provider Organizations (EPOs) and California’s new 19 pricing regions. When California consumers are craving information the doctors have been silent and the insurance companies along with Covered California are providing scant information.
In what could be the first consumer driven attempt in California to push down rising health care costs Anthem Blue Cross is flagging facilities in California that are unwilling to pass on deep discounts to its members. Anthem Blue Cross has introduced Tiered Networks into several counties in California with its new ACA compliant health plans in hopes that subscribers will choose less costly facilities
Thousands of Medicare Advantage plan members in California are receiving letters that their health plans are closing from carriers such as Anthem Blue Cross and Health Net. Some of the health insurance companies will be leaving some counties completely while others will be offering new Medicare Advantage (MA) plans to their members. Regardless of the reasons, the plan closure triggers a Special Enrollment Period for Medicare beneficiaries to select a new plan offered in their county.
Anthem Blue Cross California has released information regarding the coverage of medically necessary procedures to treat gender identity disorder, commonly referred to as a person being transgender. Effective immediately, all new and grandfathered plans will cover surgeries, hormone therapy and counseling associated with transitioning from the birth sex to the sex the individual identifies with.
