C
overed California has put together a high level overview of the health plans being offered in each of the nineteen regions in the state. Each region has two quick fact pages which gives information on rates, plans ranked by premium cost, and regional hospitals in-network.
Rankings of Covered California health plans by premium and region
The first page shows the average percentage premium increase of all the plans, percentage of enrollees receiving a subsidy, and the premium increase for the lowest cost Bronze and Silver plans. The available health plans for the region are listed and statistics for percentage enrollment by plan, weighted average rate increase, and range of percent change from 2015.
In network hospitals
Health plans by region with average premium rate increase and percentage of enrollment.
Usually at the bottom of page one will be a spreadsheet of major hospitals in the region and which health plan have them in-network. Kaiser hospitals are not listed because they only work with Kaiser health insurance. But as the document notes, always check with the health plan to make sure a hospital or physician network is a preferred provider. Blue Shield recently announced they were dropping Stanford Health Care from their preferred provider network which means Stanford Hospital may no longer be in-network for 2016.
Major hospital by health plan network affiliation for 2016, subject to change.
Health plans ranked by premium by metal tier
Page two ranks the health plans by premium for each metal tier from least expensive to the highest premium. Where applicable the document gives pertinent information such as if a carrier changed plan types in the region which may have affected their relative position in the ranking. For example, in Region 7, Santa Clara, Health Net changed their plan type from an EPO to a HCSP. In some regions Blue Shield dropped their EPO and will only offer PPO. The change in plan type can change the premium rates for the health plans.
Covered California health plans ranked by premium cost across the metal tiers by region.
The high level view of plans and rates also give additional observations. For instance, it notes that in some regions the second lowest cost Silver plan (SLCSP) changed in cost. This is crucial because the tax credit subsidy is calculated based upon the SLCSP. If the SLCSP increases, the tax credit everyone in the region will receive will also increase. If the SLCSP decreases, the tax credit amounts will decrease, even if the consumer’s selected plan, which is not the SLCSP, increased in rates.
Download–> 2016 Covered California Regional Data Report
YouTube recording presenting the Regional Data Report
