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Major Medical Carrier Updates Regarding Cigna + Oscar Small Group Plans Being Discontinued, News & More
Thursday, August 01 2024

Carrier Updates
Oscar and Cigna Healthcare will not renew Cigna + Oscar Small Group plans nationally. Coverage for Cigna + Oscar Small Group services will continue through the end of each member’s policy, and specific timing is dependent on each groups’ enrollment date. Key dates to know: Cigna + Oscar will no longer enroll new small groups beginning January 1, 2025. The last date for an employer to start a new policy with Cigna + Oscar will be December 15, 2024. Cigna + Oscar will not renew Small Group plans beginning January 1, 2025. The last Cigna + Oscar Small Group plans renewed will be those with effective dates of December 15, 2024. The last date of member coverage in the market will be December 14, 2025 . Contact You Dickerson Sales Representative to Learn About Available Options.

Carrier Updates
Anthem has a great solution for your CA Small Group C+O business effective June 1, 2024 - September 15, 2024. Anthem will only need limited documentation for groups who are moving off C+O. Small Group Employer Application Cigna + Oscar bill / statement (80% enrollment required from on the C+O bill / statement … no reconciliation required) Employee Enrollment 1st months premium *Groups must be headquartered in CA *We will review groups with high out of state participation on a case-by-case basis. For More Information or Help Quoting Anthem, Please Contact Your Dickerson Sales Rep Today.

Carrier Updates
California Choice is making it easy for groups with Cigna + Oscar direct coverage to move to CaliforniaChoice! A special underwriting promotion is available for 7/1/2024-12/1/2024 new business effective dates. Groups with 1+ medically enrolled subscriber may submit their most-recent Cigna + Oscar invoice in lieu of a DE9C. Groups will be considered* based on the following: Cigna + Oscar (C+O) invoice must be reconciled. Current pay stub is required for any subscriber not on submitted C+O invoice. Owners enrolling who are not listed on C+O invoice must provide a signed Owner/Partner Statement (CC 0202 9/2019). 51% of eligible population must be located in California. Owner-only groups are not eligible. *All standard CaliforniaChoice eligibility criteria apply to this promotion. For More Information or Help Quoting California Choice, Please Contact Your Dickerson Sales Rep.

Carrier Updates
Covered California for Small Business has introduced an effortless way to move your C+O groups. Using the prior carrier invoice start the transition today with minimal requirements from CCSB. Easy Documentation Submission: Simply provide us with the prior carrier invoice from Cigna+Oscar in lieu of a DE9c. For anyone not listed on the most recent invoice, 2 weeks of payroll or a new hire letter will be required. Employer Application listing the total Eligible based on the prior C+O invoice. Total employer FTE count if there is another group policy alongside C+O. Hassle-Free Group Enrollment through MyCCSB: Employee applications or waivers are not required when submitting through MyCCSB prior to the 7th of the month. Easy enrollment using a census upload for employee and dependent information. Approval within 24-48 hours on clean submissions For More Information of Help Quoting CCSB, Please Contact Your Dickerson Sales Rep Today.

Carrier Updates
Health Net has developed an Underwriting Promotion for the Q3 2024 to aid you with finding coverage for your C+O business. The below promotion is effective July 1, 2024 - September 15, 2024. Groups of 1-4 enrolling employees: Prior carrier bill is required DE9C, payroll, and ownership docs are NOT required Must enroll 80% of prior carrier bill No payroll required for additional enrolling employees Groups enrolling less than 80% of prior carrier bill will be subject to standard UW and paperwork guidelines All other UW and paperwork guidelines apply Groups of 5+ enrolling employees: May select the Enhanced Choice Promo (No DE9C, No payroll, No Prior Carrier bill, No ownership documents) Underwriting Promotion PDF Flyer Health Net does not need the physical waivers – only require that the waivers be listed on the submitted census, and we only require just enough to verify the group meets our minimum participation requirement vs. all waivers. Relaxed Waiver Requirement: You no longer have to collect all waivers from a group, just enough to verify that the group meets our minimum participation requirement. However, this does affect how the census calculates participation, so we added a Total # Eligible Employees field. Please enter the total number of eligible employees in Cell C4 of the Employees & COBRA Enrollees tab. Note: groups requesting multiple products will have to submit enough waivers to verify they meet the minimum participation requirement for each product. For More Information or Help Quoting Health Net, Please Contact Your Dickerson Sales Rep Today.

Carrier Updates
Kaiser Permanente is providing a fast and easy enrollment process that supports you and your groups as you transition C+O business. You can earn a Total Replacement reward for every new, qualified, transitioned small group. Offering simplified underwriting processes Kaiser Permanente offers a dedicated team, simplified underwriting processes, and same-day approvals for California small group businesses affected by the C+O market exit. At anytime, you may submit your new Kaiser Permanente group online at business.kp.org. Self-service capabilities that make it easy to enroll, submit new group applications and view the real-time status of submitted applications. Providing the following documents: • Small Group Employer Application • Employee Enrollment o Spreadsheet enrollments o Electronic signature forms • Cigna + Oscar billing statement • First month’s payment Get rewarded You can earn a Total Replacement reward for every new, qualified, transitioned small group. For more details on the Total Replacement reward and other bonus programs, please visit kp.org/cabrokercomp. Kaiser Permanente’s value-based care • The award-winning app makes navigating care and coverage simple. • Health and Wellness tools are part of Kaiser Permanente integrated care. • Virtual Care with $0 copay. • Mental health support is embedded in the overall care experience. • Additional benefits like vision care are part of our small business plans. • Superior specialty care drives exceptional results. Kaiser wants to help you navigate this transition and ensure you have all the information you need to transition your groups. For More Information or Help Quoting Kaiser Permanente, Please Contact Your Dickerson Sales Rep.

Industry News
(By Sydney Halleman) July 30 - Telehealth usage skyrocketed during the pandemic as people sought medical care at home and lawmakers made it easier for providers to offer virtual services. The federal government gave flexibilities to providers using telehealth after declaring COVID a public health emergency in 2020. Those flexibilities included ending geographic site restrictions for telehealth services, allowing Medicare to reimburse virtual services and paying providers the same rates for telehealth and in-person services. While some telehealth flexibilities were made permanent through legislation, others lapsed or were set to expire at the end of this year after the Biden administration ended the COVID public health emergency in May 2023 — including one policy that removes requirements for in-person visits for behavioral telehealth. Lawmakers have scrambled to decide which policies should expire and which should become permanent before the end-of-year deadline. Experts told House lawmakers during an Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing earlier this year that expiring policies could set off a crisis for providers and patients who have grown used to them. For its part, the JAMA study found that telehealth utilization for mental healthcare decreased slightly after some flexibilities expired last year. Of the mental health facilities surveyed in two waves from December 2022 to November 2023, 2.6% offered fewer telehealth services after the expiration of the PHE, compared to a period when the PHE was in effect. While that number is slight, researchers noted facilities still offering telehealth after the PHE had more limited services, such as requiring video-based therapy or placing limitations on telehealth for psychotherapy or medication management. Facilities who said they offered telehealth psychotherapy services decreased by 19.3%. Alongside that decrease, 18.4% more facilities responded with “it depends” after the PHE expired. A similar trend was observed in facilities that offered virtual medication management, according to the study. The study noted the importance of research as federal and state policies shift following the pandemic. “Our results emphasize the importance of monitoring access to mental health care in a postpandemic era, especially against the backdrop of the federal and state policy landscape,” the report said. To Read More Click Here