Florida Halts PPACA Implementation

On Monday, Florida US District Judge Robert Vinson declared the PPACA (ObamaCare) unconstitutional. This sets the stage for appeals and eventually the US Supreme Court. Because the 'individual mandate' requiring all Americans under 65 (not insured by an employer or government program) to buy health insurance or face a fine was deemed as unconstitutional and was written as non severable, the

Health Net CA Individual Plans Approved!

Health Net CA has announced this morning that they have received regulatory approval to sell their new January 1 plans to individuals & families.Health Net CA (not including the Farm Bureau) will only be offering 3 total individual health plans for January 2011. These include:*HMO 40*ValueNet PPO*Optimum Advantage HSA PPOThat's it folks. I have the rates and paper applications available for use

Anthem CA Quote Upload Available Today (New Plans)

The Anthem Blue Cross CA quoting and application system has been uploaded and is currently quoting the new approved individual & family health plans for 2011 (PPACA-compliant).The new plans quoting include:*Tonik 5000 PPO*Premium Plus PPO (six deductible choices)*PPO Share 3500, 5000 and 7500*HMO plansYou can get quotes for the current plans via my linkLumenos HSA plans will not be available for

Health Net CA Blackout Coming Up

Health Net of California has announced a blackout for individual & family coverage plans (IFP) in a couple of weeks. The blackout will be lifted when the new PPACA-compliant plans are approved and available for January 1, 2011.The blackout will occur on November 18th (online quoting), and the last day to submit applications for December 1, 2010 start dates will be November 22nd. Any applications

Anthem Blue Cross CA Eliminates Child-Only Enrollments

Effective 9/23, Anthem Blue Cross CA will no longer offer individual coverage plans to children under 19 as a stand-alone enrollment. Children of any age may apply for coverage as long as they are applying with parents/guardians over the age of 19. However, Anthem will no longer accept applications for children-only under the age of 19.Several carriers in many states have taken similar action in

October 1 Rate Increases on Individual Health

October 1 will see major rate increases by both Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of California.Blue Shield will average 18.2% increase but some age groups may experience rate increases as high as 50%! Anthem Blue Cross will average 14% with a max rate of 20% increase.Interesting article from today's Sacramento Bee.In addition, Anthem Blue Cross has currently blacked out all individual and

CA Individual Plan Upgrades (PPACA)

As of today, this is what I am being told regarding individual & family health plan updates to comply with PPACA benefit requirements.Anthem Blue Cross upgrading for 9/23 currently blacked out pending approvals (no plans currently available for sale after 9/22 start dates).Blue Shield, Health Net and Kaiser are all targeting plan change dates of 1/1/11 to upgrade new plans to PPACA compliance.

PPACA Update on Existing CA Plan Upgrades

I wanted to add that it may happen that some or all carriers choose to make the PPACA-compliant changes to existing plans on one unified date. Likely this will be the portfolio renewal date.So, it may be that your existing pre-9/23 healthcare plan gets the upgrade at the renewal of your plan anniversary or on January 1, 2011. Realistically it makes more sense cost- and logistics-wise for a

9/23/10 What Happens To My California Healthcare Plan?

Have been doing some digging this week on the future of healthcare plan changes for the upcoming 9/23 PPACA compliance requirement. I wanted to outline for everyone in California what the most likely scenario will be for your current and/or future healthcare plan. I expect the process to be generally uniform amongst the carriers.As I understand it today (this is of course all subject to be

Welcome To The Blackout

As of today, individual and family health plans in California can only be purchased with start dates of 9/22/10 and prior. There are literally no health plans available for sale starting 9/23 or after at this time. Several carriers have already shut down online quoting for start dates of 9/23 and beyond, pending the regulatory approval of the new, PPACA compliant plans. All health plans for "

PPACA Update

It appears that Anthem Blue Cross and Health Net are planning to re-tool their individual and family plans products for 9/23. Anthem will close online quoting for any plans with a start date of 9/23 or after on Saturday (8/14). Online quoting will resume once the plans are filed and approved.Health Net CA is currently not quoting any plans with effective date of 10/1 or after. Probably a

PPACA Preventive Benefits

Under the PPACA (aka Obamacare), effective 9/23/10 all new health plans available on or after that date will be required to provide certain preventive benefits at no cost to the subscriber.As noted in my earlier blog, Anthem Blue Cross CA has already begun the process of plan re-tooling and, as of today, you cannot view any plans that will be available on or afte 9/23. I expect the other CA IFP