News
Dickerson brings you the latest weekly industry, legislative and carrier updates.
Kaiser Permanente Year End Bonus Programs, Blue Shield's New Autopay System, Updates, News & More
Thursday, November 09 2023
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Carrier Updates
The year isn't over and there is still time to earn more with Kaiser and all their bonus opportunities. Helping you to earn even more as you sell through the end of 2023 and into 2024. Kaiser Permanente offers a variety of competitive bonus opportunities for new groups, new members and retained business, no matter what line of business you sell in California. Small Groups Bonus: Enroll at least 10 members in a qualified new small group and earn $100 per enrolled member. Total Replacement Bonus: Collect a one-time payment when Kaiser Permanente is established as the sole carrier. This bonus applies to both small and large group new sales. Tiered system based on total number of subscribers enrolled. Production Reward Bonus (see page 3): Receive a one-time $1,000 reward once you have enrolled 25 new members from new groups. $25 for every additional member enrolled after the first 25. This bonus applies to both small and large group new sales. For More Information or Help Quoting Kaiser Permanente, Contact Your Dickerson Sales Rep!
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Carrier Updates
Blue Shield has announced that broker-assisted Autopay is now live on Broker Connection. This new system allows brokers to set up Autopay for their clients directly from their Client List. It will also be easier to complete a one-time payment on behalf of their clients directly from their Client List- See the amounts due, choose the amount and payment type, and share payment confirmations. *Note: for Small Business brokers, the Autopay link on Broker Connection will redirect them to Employer Connection via Single Sign On to complete their requests. Large Group is not in scope. For More Information or Help Quoting Blue Shield, Contact Your Dickerson Sales Rep Today.
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Carrier Updates
Effective January 1,2024, Commercial Group, Individual and Family Plan/Ambetter and Medi-Cal members’ behavioral health benefits will no longer be administered by MHN and will be arranged directly by Health Net. This means members will keep the same great benefits but the MHN name as the administrator will be removed, and these benefits will be known simply as Health Net’s Behavioral Health Services. What you need to know : •These changes will be displayed on the new Member ID card. Members should receive their new card before January 1, 2024. •There will not be any change to the provider network due to this change in behavioral health benefits administrator.1 And for the first few months of 2024, Commercial and Medi-Cal members will still use the MHN Provider Search on www.healthnet.com, and Ambetter will use the Provider Search on myhealthnetca.com. •There will be a follow up communication to members in the coming months when members will be able to search for Providers on www.healthnet.com and myhealthnetca.com. The ETA for launching the Health Net Behavioral Health Provider Search is Q2 2024. For More Information or Help Quoting Health Net, Contact Your Dickerson Sales Rep!
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Carrier Updates
Blue Shield of California wants to replace its middleman. The health insurer, one of the largest in the nation’s most populous state, revealed in August it will drop CVS Caremark as the sole manager of its pharmacy benefits. In Caremark’s place, Blue Shield of California will contract out the job to five separate companies. To those in the industry, it’s an audacious plan that cuts to the center of controversy over the role that pharmacy benefit managers like CVS play in the U.S. Blue Shield of California, or BSCA, expects to save $500 million a year from the move, calling it a “milestone” for a “broken prescription drug system.” It’s still not clear whether BSCA can make the arrangement work, though. Big questions loom: Can the insurer coordinate pharmacy benefits across different vendors and actually generate meaningful savings? Will it lose employer clients along the way? How will other payers and PBMs react? Click Here To Read More
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Industry News
Disenrollment rates have been rising steadily since this summer, as more states start rechecking their Medicaid members’ eligibility for the program. The Biden administration enticed states to put those checks on hold during the COVID-19 public health emergency in exchange for more generous federal funding. That continuous enrollment period caused Medicaid’s rolls to swell to some 94 million people earlier this year, making the program the largest source of insurance coverage in the U.S. during the pandemic. Millions of people were expected to lose coverage at the end of Medicaid unwinding, though the actual number is currently very much in flux. Patient advocates, Democrat lawmakers and health policy researchers have raised concerns about redeterminations, as high numbers of people have lost coverage for administrative errors, not actual ineligibility. In addition, states’ different strategies are complicating efforts to get a clear national picture of how redeterminations are playing out. Click Here To Read More