Tag: Blue Shield

Contract dispute creates health insurance controversy in California

S.Vagus
California Health Insurance

280,000 people may be affected by contract dispute between Blue Shield and Sutter Health A contract dispute in California may create some turbulence for health insurance consumers in the state. The dispute is between Blue Shield of California, one of the state’s largest health insurance providers, and the Sutter Health network of medical professionals and hospitals. The dispute may have an impact on some 280,000 consumers in Northern and Central California, forcing these people to find new doctors and hospitals that they can use with their insurance coverage. Consumers may…

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Florida Health Choices program to launch July 2012

Florida legislators are looking to launch a new health care plan for small businesses in July 2012. The Florida Health Choices program, which was first built by lawmakers in 2008, aims to bring affordable health care policies to small businesses as an alternative to those offered by private insurance companies. The program has been in the development phase for several years partly because legislators want to make certain the program is being built correctly.  The Florida Health Choices board says that the program is as ready as it will ever…

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Critical illness and accident insurance now available through HM Insurance Group

Highmark Insurance Group has just announced that individuals can now buy accident insurance and critical illness insurance from any of the eight retail facilities for Highmark Direct in Pennsylvania. HM Insurance group is a Highmark company and offers a wide range of protections for accidental injuries and illnesses. Highmark Inc. is Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association independent licensee based in Pittsburgh. According to the Highmark vice president of consumerism and retail marketing, Matt Fidler, accidental insurance and critical illness insurance are a good fit with the other standard health…

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Insurance denial rates run rampant throughout the country, new data shows

S.Vagus

New data from the federal Department of Health and Human Services shows that a large number of health insurance applications sent to Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield are rejected. While rejections are not uncommon in the insurance business, the rate at which insurers are denying applicants has raised the concerns of federal regulators. Reportedly, some of these rejections are spurred by what may appear to be minor events, such as an applicant visiting an emergency room because of injury or going to see a chiropractor for back pain. According…

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Indiana to lose five different health insurers

Nordstrom

Five individual health insurance companies, including two of the largest in the country, have chosen to stop selling their policies in Indiana, leading the Indiana Department of Insurance to ask that certain elements of the reform law of 2010 be phased in. The third and fifth largest health insurance companies in the United States, Aetna Inc., from Hartford, and Cigna Corp., from Philadelphia, have decided that they will no longer be taking part in the market for individual health insurance in Indiana. Moreover, American Community Mutual Insurance Co., from Michigan,…

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