Blue Shield CA To Close and Replace Most Individual Health Plans in California

Blue Shield of California has announced that they will soon close virtually all of their current individual & family health plans and replace those plans with a new portfolio of health plans. This change and plan closure will be effective 7/2/2012.

The following current Blue Shield CA individual & family health plans will be closed to new enrollments not later than July 2, 2012:

*Vital Shield 900 & 2900
*Vital Shield Plus 400/400 Generic, 900/900 Generic, 2900/2900 Generic
*Balance PPO 1000, 1700 & 2500
*Shield Savings HSA 1800, 3500, 4000 & 5200
*Active Start PPO 25/25 Generic & 35/35 Generic
*Essential PPO 1750, 3000 & 4500

The following 4 plans will remain open to new enrollment on and after July, 2012:

*Shield Spectrum 5500
*Shield Spectrum 5000
*Access+ HMO
*Access+ Value HMO

Closed plan choices will be replaced by a new portfolio of health plans for new enrollments beginning in July. The new individual & family portfolio will consist of the following plans in addition the the four remaining plans listed above:

*Shield Secure Plus PPO 2000, 4000 & 6000
*Shield Secure PPO 2000, 4000 & 6000
*Shield Wise PPO 2500, 3500 & 4500
*Shield Saver PPO 4000 & 6000 (HSA-compatible)

Plan benefit information and July rates will be available in the next few days. All of the new plans include the mandatory maternity benefit.

As of today, Blue Shield has not indicated a process for any plan transfer options for those who are currently enrolled or who will be enrolled in the closing portfolio of plans.

Those plans which are closing will have the maternity benefit (SB 222) added onto them for July 1, 2012.

Dave
www.an-insurance.com

Feller-Freed 2012 Anthem Blue Cross Settlement

2012 Feller-Freed plan change election period has not been announced yet by Anthem Blue Cross. They anticipate more information by end of week and I will update blogs accordingly.

Also, I am waiting for an update on which plans will be available during the next Feller-Freed open enrollment (2012) as there have been some changes. Three of the Feller class plan change options will be closed on 5/1 and that would be the absolute soonest possible Feller election period although it probably will be later than May.

Anthem will likely not allow any Feller beneficiary to enroll in a closed plan coming from at closed plan so you can pretty much rule out the following plan choices from the settlement list (exhibit F of settlement agreement): CoreGuard Plus 10000, 7500 and Clear Protection Plus 5000. I am guessing Anthem will replace those options with three other plans but we have to wait and see.

As you may be aware, Serencsa settlement beneficiaries are working with a 5/1/12 cycle in conjunction with the 5/1 rate change. Feller-Freed works differently.

To recap, settlement beneficiaries for Feller-Freed are those current Anthem subscribers who were enrolled on one of four PPO Share plans in September 2009 when those plans were closed (Share 500, Share 1000, Share 1500, Share 2500). The settlement (Feller-Freed) allows eligible Feller-Freed beneficiaries an annual option to move to a selected group of open (currently sold) health plans with Anthem Blue Cross with no medical underwriting. In addition, Feller-Freed provides those still on closed Share PPO plans with a 2% discount on future rate increases until 2014.

As soon as I get solid information regarding 2012 Feller-Freed rules and plans, I will let you all know.

Take Care and God Bless!

Dave
www.an-insurance.com

California Mandatory Maternity Benefits SB 222

Effective July 1, 2012, all individual & family health insurance plans in California must provide maternity coverage to subscribers.

The Bill, SB 222, was passed into law in late 2011 and requires all individual & family health insurance plans in California to include coverage for maternity including prenatal and postnatal. This includes plans registered with both the CA Dept of Managed Health Care (DMHC) and the CA Dept of Insurance (CDI). The law, signed by Gov Brown in 2011, estimates an average cost increase (premium) of about $7 per month per subscriber.

As of this date none of the California health insurance carriers selling individual & family coverage have announced how they intend to implement the new benefits. I expect most if not all carriers will simply add the benefit to existing plans without creating a new series of "open" plans to accommodate the new benefit.

This benefit additiona affects all individual & family health plans. Anyone currently on a non-maternity coverage plan in California will have the benefit added on July 1, 2012.

CA SB 222

Dave
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