Received a call today from BCBS informing us that Blue Advantage, our current plan, will no longer be offered in our county. Too late in the day to return the call for an explanation. Anyone else experience this? I had no idea plans are county specific. Any advice or explanation is greatly appreciated.
That is correct. Only Blue Value and Blue Local plans will be available in Johnston County. They only offer certain plans in each county. http://www.bcbsnc.com/content/providers/news-and-information/news/Commercial_GAR_Announcement.htm
Thank you for the link. So disappointed by the choices. Hoping Blue Local is decent because we started with Blue Value and no one accepted it. Thanks again!
How long have you had it? Sounds like it, "will no longer be offered to individual health care consumers in the Charlotte and Triangle areas who purchased their plans since January 1, 2014, as a result of the Affordable Care Act." Based on this, if you had it before that date you are not affected. My wife and child have been on the Blue Advantage plan since 2009 and it is considered grandfathered. This press release isn't terribly detailed, but it does sound like there is a date after which they will apply this new change.
We are self-employed and have had BCBS for almost 20 years. Purchased through the exchange, began with Blue Value which was a mistake, and then switched to Blue Advantage in Jan of 2015 so we will not qualify to keep, nor can we switch back to Blue Value - no one accepted it. Not sure what to do next...any suggestions? Advice is greatly appreciated!
My husband and I both have Medicare Advantage BCBS PPO plan. the PPO plan has been removed from Johnston County. We all have to search for new insurance. If I lived 3 streets over in Wake County, I could keep it !!!! does this make sense to anyone?
Got the same phone message today and I'm not happy! I like my Blue Advantage plan!!! Unfortunately, since I got it just last year, I'm not grandfathered in Harvey :-( Going to do some research and will post what I find.
It's a huge swath of NC affected - unless doctors make an adjustment, those with Blue Advantage will be SOL. When we originally signed up through the exchange, it was before all the physicians had decided which plans they would accept - none, except our GP, would take Blue Value, but by then it was too late. We switched as soon as we could.
We have not received a call yet, but I know we will be affected. I spoke to a rep at BCBS today and she was unable to offer me any new info regarding rates and coverage. She did say, however, that the Blue Local plan is comparable to the Blue Advantage plan. Does anyone know of a link to check out the options with Blue Local and Blue Value?
I don't believe Blue Local is comparable to Blue Advantage, at least once you're out of this area. It seems to be restricted to certain health care networks.
Last year, my employer decided to stop offering insurance, at which they paid only 40% of the premium anyway (10% short of what they should have, but I won't go there!). My portion was 800.00 a month. My husband had been laid off and was paying for the Cobra, at 800.00 a month, and it was ending. Since then, he has retired. I will say that it has been more affordable than before, however, it's been a roller coaster with healthcare.gov and their frequent requests for documentation and repeated calls on issues that we thought were resolved. It's very frustrating and I wish I worked for a company that offered a plan. I can only imagine what the change will be now. I almost asked the BCBS rep how to apply for a job there, because I've gotten so good at understanding the system...hell, can't beat em, join em!
Ah, so that's the hitch. Isnt there a way to look at the plans now..I would rather be pro- active about it.
None that I've found. Since open enrollment doesn't start until November 1, I think they're keeping everything close to the vest as long as they can. I did look up my doctors, and it looks like just about all of them are going to be on Blue Value next year. I'm also going to be affected by the end of Blue Advantage, but it may work out for the best based on the doctors taking it. I just looked up the doctors on the BCBSNC website, putting in their names, zip code, and selecting Blue Value plan. Mine showed out of network for 2015 and in network for 2016. Here's the press release I found regarding Blue Local - http://mediacenter.bcbsnc.com/news/...-the-triangle-with-new-blue-local-health-plan
This is a comparison for a 35 year old living in 27520 for 2015 - https://www.bcbsnc.com/assets/shopper/public/quote/index.htm#/
Just wanted to reopen this thread and to let you know despite my grandfathered status all is not well. We've had Blue Advantage since 2009 and have seen fairly modest increases every year ( with one year actually decreasing $30). However, we just got our letter and it has jumped $220 for a child and adult. Granted the adult moved into a new age bracket, which may have a lot to do with it. However, I feel it has a lot more to do with BCBS 'pushing' people into other plans. As time goes on BCBS has seen some serious degradation of it's customer service, administration, etc. I used to think of them as a good company, but now not so much. I reckon I'll be looking over comparative plans starting Nov. 1st as well as combing my doctors' webpages to see if the take particular plans. I heard on NPR something about either BCBS or HealthCare.gov has a new tool that will help you with this part.
