Anthem Blue Cross CA Finally Gets Approvals!

Just received a voicemail from Anthem Blue Cross California that the plan portfolios held up by the California Dept of Insurance have finally been approved.

These plans have been pending approval since September 22, 2010.

According to the voicemail the new plans (all PPACA-compliant) will be available for sale tomorrow (1/14/11) to the public.

I will update this post with the particulars of the plans now available as soon as I receive the written confirmation in the morning.

Anthem Blue Cross CA Partial Plan Release 12/10

Anthem Blue Cross has announced that a portion of the health plans held up for approval by the CDI (California Dept of Insurance) have been approved and are available for sale today.

In addition to the 3 HMO plans and PPO Share 3500 and 7500 which were previously approved for sale, the following plans are now available today for quoting and applications:

Premier Plus PPO (1000, 1500, 2500, 3500, 5000 and 6000 deductibles)
Lumenos HSA PPO 1500 (non-maternity)
Lumenos HSA 5000 (with maternity)
Tonik 5000 PPO
PPO Share 5000
PPO Share 1000

Anthem has indicated that plan online quotes and applications for the new plans will be available Saturday, 12/18 and after.

Quotes and plan summaries can be found on my Anthem Plan Finder
Click on "Get Quotes" under "individuals & families" and it will open the planfinder in a new window.

Still pending are:

SmartSense Plus
Core Guard Plus
Clear Protection Plus
Lumenos Plus

PacifiCare Fined $9.9 Billion by CDI

PacifiCare is once again the target for CA Dept of Insurance regulatory action.

A couple of years ago, the carrier was fined $1.2 Billion for poor claims practices.

Aocording to the article below, PacifiCare committed over 1 million violations of California law between 2006-2008.

I have maintained for several years my refusal to contract with this carrer, as have many CA health agents.

This is going to hurt if enforced.

LA Times Article