Kevin Knauss: Health, History, Travel, Insurance
Posts related to Blue Shield of California, primarily individual and family plans, billing issues, enrollment, health plans, small groups, Medicare.
LifeSpring, a free meal delivery service, is also available to Trio HMO members experiencing a serious illness. In addition to meals, Trio HMO members can also use the Call the Car benefit. Call the Car is free non-emergency medical transportation for medical appointments, dialysis or other healthcare service appointments. Blue Shield Case Managers will determine eligibility for the Call the Car program.
For eligible plan members only, Blue Shield will offer an option to defer up to 75% of April’s premium to remain a paid current Member / Small Group customer (i.e. must pay a minimum of 25%). For example, April premium is $1,000. Member can defer $750. April payment due is $250. So long as the Member or Small Group enrolls in the program or pays the Total Amount Past Due before the end of the grace period, the Member or Small Group will not be cancelled after the applicable grace period ends.
Blue Shield of California is taking additional steps to remove barriers and help its members receive the health care they need during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, announcing today it will cover members’ coinsurance, copayments and deductibles for COVID-19 medical treatments through May 31, 2020.
In the spirit of Covered California and an open market place, agents should be offering information on all health plans available to the individual or family in their region. If a marketing program is designed to restrict consumer information or attempts to steer consumers into a specific health plan, the loser is the consumer. This sort of devious marketing arrangement is made even more egregious when the bait to entice a consumer is a government funded subsidy.
The limitations to the BlueCard program for 2019 on PPO plans means the out-of-area health care services are no different than Blue Shield’s Trio HMO plan for individuals and families. Unless the health care services are for emergency or urgent care they won’t be covered unless the member has prior authorization from Blue Shield of California.
Blue Shield individual and family plans also come with Teladoc for phone call consultations, NursesHelp 24/7 online chat, and the BlueCard program that allows member’s access to providers when they are travelling out-of-network. The plans also include a physician home visit. The home visit, Heal on-demand house calls, is subject to the member’s location. There is also Telebehavioral health benefit that helps members with mental or substance abuse challenges access therapy online with mental health professionals.
The final extra is the personal emergency response system (PERS). PERS is an emergency alert system that can be activated at the push of a button. It can work with an in-home landline, cellular network, and includes mobile GPS to identify the user’s location. The most advertised use for the personal emergency alert system is if the person falls and can’t get up. This can happen in the person’s home, while they out walking around the neighborhood, or hiking on a trail.
For eligible members, there is no additional cost to participate in this program or for services provided by Landmark. Covered services provided by non-Landmark providers through a referral from Landmark may be subject to cost-sharing based on members’ health plan benefits and coverage.
There a lots of different dental plans off-exchange or outside of Covered California. The number of plans makes comparisons complicated and confusing. Delta Dental and Anthem Blue Cross offer dental plans through Covered California and a variety of different plans off-exchange. The single largest difference between the Covered California plans and the ones offered off-exchange is the 12 month waiting period for major dental work such as extractions, root canals, and crown. The six month waiting period usually applies to minor restorative work such as getting a cavity filled.
Both Health Net and Blue Shield have wasted thousands of hours of time for consumers, agents, and their customer service staff. Tempers have become short and patience has run thin. And as of December 21st, a month after some people have applied for health insurance, 10 days before the plans are to become effective, many families don’t know if they will have insurance on January 1, 2018.
