Kevin Knauss: Health, History, Travel, Insurance
Posts related to Blue Shield of California for individuals, families, small groups, Medicare, Medi-Cal, Covered California.
One of the big complaints about health care services is not knowing or being surprised by the cost of medical treatment. Blue Shield of California has taken a modest step toward helping plan members determine the cost of health care services with their new treatment cost estimator tool. Initial reports from clients suggest the […]
After an acrimonious contract fight where Blue Shield and Sutter Health where each accused the other of anti-consumer business practices, they have officially given the middle finger to their members and patients by signing a contract where the terms of the agreement are confidential. Regardless of how often Blue Shield and Sutter Health say the […]
Blue Shield apology Sutter Health Information Blue Shield and Sutter sign a new two-year contract We are pleased to announce that Blue Shield and Sutter Health have signed a new two-year agreement effective February 1, 2015. This means that Sutter hospitals and doctors will continue to be participating providers in the Blue Shield network. We apologize […]
In 2014 the combination of Covered California’s enrollment issues and Blue Shield’s bumbling billing system created massive headaches for Blue Shield’s members and their staff. With the dawn of 2015 we have witnessed that Blue Shield of California still hasn’t resolved many billing issues for individuals and families attempting to enroll in their health and […]
Sutter Health patients love their doctors. Blue Shield of California has created a small public relations nightmare with their members when they announced that they would be dropping Sutter Health from their network of providers in 2015. To combat the image that Blue Shield is the bad guy in this battle of corporate health care titans, […]
January 30th: Blue Shield and Sutter sign 2015 contract update January 5th Blue Shield Sutter falling out below Blue Shield of California jolted their members with a New Year’s announcement that they were dropping Sutter Health hospitals and doctors from many of their plans for 2015. The reason given was that Blue Shield was not […]
Blue Shield of California announced that it was getting a slice of the lucrative government Medi-Cal pie with its acquisition of Care1st of Los Angeles County. Blue Shield has been missing the easy money of Medi-Cal payments that Blue Cross, Health Net and Kaiser have been receiving from different California counties when they offer a Medi-Cal managed care HMO […]
In the confusing landscape of health insurance regulations post ACA implementation, numerous health insurance companies have sent out renewal letters to members with errors. Blue Cross, Blue Shield, Health Net and even Covered California have had to send follow-up letters to correct erroneous information. Unfortunately, this incorrect correspondence only leads to more confusion surrounding the benefits and renewal […]
There was tremendous confusion over which doctors were in-network for the new individual and family plans offered through Covered California in early 2014. While the major health insurance plans offering PPO and EPO plans maintained the provider networks were the same regardless of whether they were purchased on or off the exchange, doubts persisted fueled […]
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 […]
