Insurers
About Blue Shield of California
Blue Shield of California is administered seperately for Blue Cross in California.
Through another organization known as the Caretrust Network. The Caretrust Network
is an indendent member company of the non-profit Blue Shield organization. Blue
shield offers Individual family plans, small group plans and short term health insurance.
Including a wide selection of PPO plans, HMO plans, and HSA plans.
Some of the most popular individual Blue Shield PPO plans include the Active Start
35 PPO plan, and the Shield Spectrum series. The Shield Spectrum group of plans
are among the few plans to still offer maternity coverage. As for short term plans,
Blue Shield offers two excellent options, either the Option One, or Option Twelve.
The Active Start plans from Blue Shield come in two flavors. The $35 dollar copay,
and the $25 dollar copay version. These plans have no deductible for labs, radiology
and the hospital; and instead go straight to coinsurace of 60% where you pay 40%
of the charges. In other words, if you have a lab test, or Emergency Room visit
that is $1,000 dollars in charges. The Active Start plan picks ups $600 (60%) and
you would pay $400 (40%) of the charges.
The Plan also comes with either generic Rx(prescriptions), or generic and brand
name prescriptions. Generally, it is better to go with the generic only prescription
drug coverage, because the prescriptions are subject to a seperate $750 dollar deductible
before there is pharmacy coverage. The competitors of this plan from other carriers
include the Aetna First Dollar MC Open Access,
the Blue Cross Right Plan 40 and the
Health Net Simple Value 40.
Option Twelve
The Option Twelve short term plans are among the best coverage available on a simplified
underwriting basis,and are offered at a very reasonable price point. The Option
Twelve allows an individual to qualify quickly (usually with a decision within 24
hours of applying) for a short term plan. Additionally, the Blue Shield Option Twelve
allows an individual or family to keep the coverage, and pay monthly, for up to
one year. The application process is also simple, you can easily download an application
from our website, complete it, and mail or fax it back in for fast processing.
Option One
If you know you will not be needing to keep the coverage for as long as is available
from the Blue Shield Option Twelve, then the Blue Shield Option One is an great,
and less expensive alternative. By having applicants pay in full for the policy
period, and shortening the maximum policy length to six months, Blue Shield is able
to offer a considerable discount for the same limits of coverage as the option twelve.
Besides simplified underwriting, and fast policy approval, keep in mind that the
Blue Shield Option One only allows you to apply for coverage for up to maximum of
six months, and requires payment in full at the time of applying.
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