The health plan has a long-awaited announcement:
The Motion Picture Industry (MPI) Health Plans have just completed contract negotiations with Anthem Blue Cross who will become MPI’s new PPO network provider, replacing Blue Shield of California. This change is effective August 1, 2012.
The most significant items to be aware of with this change are:
· Any MPI Participant currently enrolled in Blue Shield’s PPO plan will be automatically enrolled in the Anthem Blue Cross PPO plan with coverage beginning August 1, 2012.
Participants living in California or the New York Tri-State area who do not want to be automatically enrolled in Anthem Blue Cross must enroll in one of MPI’s HMO plans (Kaiser or Health Net in California; Oxford in the Tri-State area) by submitting a completed Benefit Selection Form (attached) to MPI by July 11, 2012.
· Participants and their dependents will receive their Benefit Identification Cards directly from Anthem Blue Cross at the end of July.
· While Anthem Blue Cross has a significantly larger network of providers, Participants should confirm that their doctors are in the Anthem Blue Cross PPO network by visiting Anthem’s website at www.anthem.com and clicking on the “Find a Doctor” button. If their doctor is not in the network, any claims they incur on or after August 1, 2012 will be paid by MPI at the 50% Out-of-Network rate rather than the 90% In-Network rate.
MPI is communicating with Participants through letters, our website and an upcoming newsletter. In order to help ensure that your members are aware of this important change, please consider emailing the attached flyer (PDF and .jpg versions included for your convenience) to your membership and posting it on your website and in any common notice areas.
If you have any questions about this change, please don’t hesitate to contact MPI’s Participant Services Center toll-free at (855) ASK-4MPI.
Sincerely,
Rebecca L. Wilson
Director of Communications
Motion Picture Industry (MPI) Pension & Health Plans
11365 Ventura Blvd.
Studio City, CA 91604-3148
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4 comments:
Is Blue Cross also at an impasse with UCLA?
And can we get an update on that issue from the guild. The majority of doctors on the west side are affiliated with UCLA so its been a real problem if you live in that area.
My understanding is that Anthem Blue Cross has UCLA in its network (unlike Blue Shield).
That being said, don't take my word for it - call the Health Plan at (818) 769-0007 and press 1 for participant services.
You can also go to Anthem's website and hit "Find A Doctor" to determine if a particular doctor is in the Anthem Blue Cross network.
Several people are telling me that Anthem is a huge step down from Blue Shield. Is this true ? What's the bottom line reason for this change?
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