BCBS-Illinois: News and Updates

[AllenChicago]

Do you know when we'll know who has the 2nd lowest Silver Plan in IL for 2015? Will we be able to see all IL companies rates before 11/15/2014?

October 6, 2014

Pancur, Blue Cross seems to be focusing on setting rates for their pre-2014 plans first.

In August, they requested a 26.8% increase for plans effective between 3/23/2010 and 12/31/2013 (aka "Grandmothered" Plans), for a 1/1/2015 implementation. This is still pending.

Today, Blue Cross filed a 14.8% rate increase for all plans written before 3/23/2010 (aka "Grandfathered" Plans). It goes into effect as each policy comes up for its annual renewal. The last rate increase on this block of policies was just 4.1%. That occurred on 1/1/2014. According to SERFF, BCBSIL has 51,620 active Grandfathered policies.

I read somewhere that the 2015 premiums for all companies were filed through a non-public backdoor method at the Illinois DOI, to keep them secret from competitors. It's looking like we won't know the answer to your question until the State of Illinois decides to divulge the premiums for all companies simultaneously, like last year.

They will show up at Welcome to Illinois Department of Insurance when the state gets around to it.

-Allen

 

[SamIam]

Somebody told me it would be the second week of November.

 

[AllenChicago]

August 7, 2014

Someone with knowledge of how rate-filings are structured, please tell me if the attached .pdf document filed by HCSC is stating that Illinois BCBS-IL premiums will be increasing by 26.8% on 1/1/2015? It's referring to Individual Major Medical plans, but I'm not sure which ones.

As posted yesterday in the "Insurer Filings" thread, proposed rate increases from all Illinois carriers is located at the now public accessible SERFF link: https://filingaccess.serff.com/sfa/search/filingSearch.xhtml
ac

October 8, 2014

Today the state approved BCBS-IL's request to increase "Grandmothered" policy premiums (those effective between 3/23/2010 and 12/31/2013) by 26.8%. Estimated to affect approx. 114,000 policies. Goes into effect on 1/1/2015.
ac

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October 8, 2014

A good news FYI: On October 3rd, Blue Cross received state approval to start selling their Dental Plans as STAND ALONE products for 2015 Open Enrollment. Or, you'll be able to change existing dental plans that are tied to an existing 2014 health plan.
ac

 

[AllenChicago]

Monday, October 20, 2014

FYI..Health Insurance Illinois | Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois no longer allows Special Enrollment Period ONLINE enrollment for future occurrences. They must be submitted on a PAPER application.

Example: Today is October 20th. Jim's health insurance at this job is ending on October 31st. If you want to enroll him today for a November 1st effective date, at Health Insurance Illinois | Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, you'll need to submit a paper application.

Exchange/healthcare.gov enrollments do not need to follow this restriction. You can enroll Jim today for a November 1st effective date, if you need to.

ac

 

[SamIam]

I just submitted one online today and it went through.

 

[AllenChicago]

I just submitted one online today and it went through.

Sam, If you went through www.healthcare.gov, that's expected. If you try to choose a future effective date right at the Blue Cross website, it says "You Must Enter A Date Prior to Today".

Was yours an on-exchange application, Sam?
ac

 

[SamIam]

Yes it was on the exchange.

 

[AllenChicago]

Yes it was on the exchange.

That explains it, Sam. Do off-exchange at the BCBSIL website for a future effective date, and it won't let you. You have to complete a paper app and fax or mail it in. Not that this would be cumbersome, since the paper apps are so easy without the health questions. You just need to obtain a real signature from the applicant..like we've done for the last 20+ years.
allen

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October 23, 2014

After a client ask me about the benefits of her BCBSIL PPO-4 Silver plan, I did some investigating. This is nuts. I found 3 different policy benefit descriptions at bcbsil.com, and her "Policy Kit" link in the agent's area downloaded an empty "null" file.

Findings:

1. When I ran a quote and clicked on the link for the PP0-4 Silver plan benefits pop-up window, the schedule showed a Copay+Deductible+Coinsurance for every inpatient stay, outpatient test or procedure, and emergency room visit.

2. When I looked at the Summary of Benefits for the PPO-4 Silver, it shows NO Copays for anything but Doctor's visits and the Emergency Room.

3. The PPO-4 Outline of Coverage is found in the "FORMS" section in the Blue Access for Producers section. The OOC shows a $250 or Deductible (not copay) for Outpatient Surgery, or Tests or, $500 for Hospitalization and 20% Coinsurance. No mention of the regular ($3,000) plan deductible in those sections.

4. And like I said above...the client's policy "kit" online folder is empty.

I've noticed these inconsistencies before, but never seriously looked into them until asked to do so today. Let's hope that BCBSIL will get these documents coordinated and corrected before open enrollment starts on 11/15/2014. I feel like such a fool not being able to help this client in need today. Tomorrow, I'll call BCBSIL and see which document THEY say is correct.

There's another scheduled maintenance outage for part of this weekend of the Producer's section. That will be 3 weeks in a row. Whatever they're doing must be top secret.
-ac

 

[AllenChicago]

November 11, 2014 (Happy Veterans Day!)

Agents, check your BCBSIL website for 2014 to 2015 premium changes. When you look at each client's page, you can now see what their 2015 premium will be.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that GOLD PPO and HMO clients in Cook county will be paying less in 2015 due to a premium decrease. And, it looks like all Cook county Dental premiums will be lower in 2015.

The Silver plans are higher, but only by about 7% on the few clients I checked today. It would be nice if BCBS-IL would send or post a "2014 to 2015 premium change chart". But I guess they're way too busy for something that frivolous, this close to Open Enrollment.

Edit to Add: I just visited SERFF. The rate change spread for Blue Cross is enormous. Some plans are decreasing from 2014 to 2015 by 14%. Others are increasing by 38.9%. This will affect the 143,948 clients who purchased on and off exchange plans in 2014.
ac

 

[AllenChicago]

FYI Agents.. I spoke to BCBSIL today. You can no longer view policy information for pre-2014 clients in your Blue Access for Agents office. That ability has been removed.

Blue Cross really wants all pre-2014 policyholders to be on a modern Metal plan. They didn't have the guts to cancel them, like Aetna and Humana are doing this year. Instead they just raised the premiums by over 30% and cutoff agent's online access to these policyholders. In another year or two, they'll all be gone.
ac