Update: Anthem Blue Cross CA Closing Clear Protection Plus 1000 PPO

Anthem Blue Cross California has announced the options available to those who are currently members of the Clear Protection Plus 1000 PPO plan.

In my prior blog (CP Plus 1000 Closing) Anthem Blue Cross CA announced the closure of the plan on June 30, 2012. Today, Anthem provided clarification on the options available to those who are enrolled on the plan or those who will enroll before the end of the month. The options are as follows:

*Members currently on the Clear Protection Plus 1000 policy may remain on their policy and add family members to the policy subject to medical underwriting. They may do so until or unless they request a plan change via current underwriting procedures.

*Members may elect to change plans during a special open enrollment period from September 1, 2012 to September 30, 2012 with no medical underwriting. Clear Protection Plus 1000 members can move to the following plans during the open enrollment period:

*CoreGuard Plus 750 (06B6)
*CoreGuard Plus 1500 (06B7)
*Clear Protection Plus 3300 (06B4)

Any other plan changes besides the three plans above would require medical underwriting. The Clear Protection Plus 3300 (06B4) is currently a plan change option under the existing plan movement matrix.

Dave
www.an-insurance.com

Feller-Freed Open Enrollment Period 2012

Anthem Blue Cross has announced the 2012 Feller-Freed open enrollment period. For those eligible under the Feller-Freed settlement, the following applies.

Open enrollment will be from April 20,2012 to June 4, 2012. During this period, anyone eligible for a plan change under Feller-Freed may make the plan change election to a new plan.

Anthem Blue Cross subscribers will receive notification with election options in the next few days. This applies to any Feller-Freed settlement beneficiary who has a rate increase on their PPO Share plan. Those with no increase or a decrease are not eligible to change plans during this open enrollment.

Due to the announced closure by Anthem Blue Cross of certain plans originally part of the Feller-Freed settlement (Clear Protection Plus 5000 and Core Guard 7500/10000), other plans have been substituted by Blue Cross to arrive at the required number of available plan choices.

Choices include:

*Certain PPO Share plans (Closed) depending on original plan
*PPO Share 1000*, 3500, 5000, 5000* and 7500
*HMO and HMO Saver
*Individual Select HMO
*Core Guard Plus 750, 3500 and 5000 PPO plans
*Clear Protection Plus 3300 PPO
*Premier Plus 5000 and 6000 PPO
*SmartSense Plus 6000 std drug and 6000 with drug upgrade

As always, members affected by the Feller-Freed settlement should contact their agent of record regarding assistance with plan changes. If you do not know who your agent of record is, contact Anthem membership at 800-333-0912 and they will provide you with contact information for your agent.

Anthem Blue Cross members who are 'in house' accounts and purchased their PPO Share plan directly from Blue Cross without an agent may contact Anthem Blue Cross directly or may seek assistance from an independent agent. I require an AOR (agent of record) change letter before I will assist with any plan changes for 'in house' members.

Dave
www.an-insurance.com

* both the PPO Share 1000 and 5000 have dual registration with both the CDI and DMHC. Both registration change options may be available for these specific plans.

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

Anthem Blue Cross, Serencsa and Feller-Freed - My Position

As I have mentioned in past blogs, sometimes I feel I need to address certain issues with regard to health insurance due to activity by phone and e-mail. I want to address my position with regard to both Serencsa and Feller-Freed options for Anthem Blue Cross subscribers. This is mainly directed at those Anthem Blue Cross subscribers who are not my current clients and are seeking assistance in changing to lower-cost coverage while being eligible for either Serencsa, Feller-Freed, or both..

Both Serencsa and Feller-Freed provide opportunities for plan changes within Anthem to lower cost coverage (if that is desired) WITHOUT any medical underwriting. Additionally, both Serencsa and Feller-Freed options are on the table until at least January 1, 2014 which means there will be multiple options to make the one-time plan change due to rate increases between now and 2014.

It appears that there are quite a few Anthem Blue Cross subscribers who do not understand their options under Serencsa and Feller-Freed and seem quite willing to give up those options for reasons that make little sense.

To be clear, both Serencsa and Feller-Freed provide plan change options and the ability to move to lower-cost coverage in a variety of 'open' Anthem Blue Cross health plans (plans currently sold to the public) with no medical questions asked. Since there are lower-cost health plans available to move to, it makes very little sense to look at changing insurance carriers in an attempt to lower rates and put oneself through medical underwriting and a new 2-year contestability period. I have a hard time finding a significant reason, in the current California individual & family health market, where it would make more sense to change insurance carriers than to exercise Serencsa or Feller-Freed rights with Anthem Blue Cross.

Once a person elects that change to another insurer, the protection and change options under Serencsa and Feller-Freed are lost forever. They can never be recovered.

I fully expect that at some point someone (or maybe a whole bunch of someones) is going to make that kind of change and later realize what they gave up (probably the first time the other carrier cranks up premiums with a rate increase and offers no guaranteed-issue change option), and that is when the fireworks are going to start.

I am not willing nor interested in assisting any Anthem Blue Cross subscriber who has un-exercised Serencsa or Feller-Freed protection in trying to buy health insurance from another insurance carrier just to try get a lower premium. I feel that this creates a legal exposure and at some point agents making these kinds of changes may face legal and E&O repercussions.

Sorry, but I don't do business that way. I will not take away a class-action entitlement benefit just to make a buck.

Good luck and God bless.

Dave
www.an-insurance.com