| Blue Cross Of California Health Insurance - Clear Answers To Tough ...
Northridge, California (FV Newswire) - Blue Cross of California health insurance provides clear answers to tough questions. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger recently proposed a plan to provide affordable health insurance to everyone in the state under the age of 18. The ultimate goal, according to Chuck Mondrus of American Health Insurance / Blue Cross California, is for everyone in California to have affordable health insurance.
"Blue Cross California," Mondrus adds, "shares the Governor's concern with California's cost and coverage challenges, and we view many components of the Governor's proposal as very positive. Theoretically, if everyone is insured, the cost of insurance would be less on a per-person basis."
He adds that, until a finished proposal exists, it's impossible to know the legislation's real impact.
New Health Plan Targets Adults Under 35
Mar. 20--NORTH HAVEN -- Aiming to increase young adults' access to health care, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield has introduced an insurance plan geared toward people ages 19 to 34. The health plan, called Tonik, is designed for a demographic Anthem calls "young invincibles," or young adults who have disposable income but no health insurance coverage, according to company officials. "Many young adults lose insurance under their parents' coverage when they graduate from college, leaving them uninsured until they find a job," David R. Fusco, president of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Connecticut, said in a written statement. "Once they find employment, they may have to wait several months to be eligible for health insurance benefits, if their employer provides health insurance." Others feel "young, healthy and invincible" and don't realize what a serious illness or accident could cost them if they are uninsured, he said.
Healthy Rewards
If you receive health insurance coverage through Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield, chances are pretty good that your doctor has an added monetary incentive for ensuring that you get all your recommended medical tests and stay healthy.
Through a Wellmark-sponsored pay-for-performance plan that's now wrapping up its first year of operations, more than 400 clinicians in Iowa and South Dakota are eligible to receive rewards of up to $15,000 per year if they meet all of the guidelines of the program's highest performance levels.
The Collaboration on Quality, which doctors, physicians' assistants and certain other practitioners may enroll in on a voluntary basis, is concentrating its initial efforts on the treatment of patients with high blood pressure and diabetes.
RI to debut small business health plan
Two new health plans available to employees of small businesses this fall will offer discounted coverage to people who agree to keep fit and quit smoking. Details of the plans were released Tuesday and will be offered in October by Blue Cross & Blue Shield for $323 a month and UnitedHealthcare for $309 per month. Both require customers to get a health screening, select a primary care doctor and create a plan to monitor long-term illnesses such as diabetes. People who are overweight will have to enroll in a weight-management program or show they're losing weight. Smokers would have to enroll in a program to stop. Those who don't will have to pay more. "There really is no free lunch," said Christopher Koller, the state's health care commissioner. "If you want to lower costs, there are going to have to be some commitments." Any insurance company that wants to insure the state's work force must offer the discounted plans, which can't exceed 10 percent of an average person's annual wages.
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