Cigna has released their 2017 health plans available in select counties of Northern and Southern California. Cigna has decided not to pay agents commissions for 2017. (Cigna Cuts All Agent’s Commissions to 0% for 2017) Consumers will have limited options for assistance with enrollment and the explanation of the health plans from Cigna in 2017. Most all Cigna plans have been converted to EPO plans. The exception is one Bronze plan that still remains a PPO product.
Covered California Website Updates for 2017
Covered California has updated and changed various parts of their online health insurance enrollment website for 2017. These changes, launched with the release of the CalHEERS 16.9 build, will affect new enrollments and individuals and families renewing their health insurance for 2017. A high level overview was published by Covered California in their 2017 Consumer Renewal Journey & Features Release 16.9. The slides of the presentation are available for download.
Covered California update removes income assessment for unmarried pregnant women
Covered California will implement several changes to their online application program known at CalHEERS on August 1, 2016. One significant change is no longer assessing unmarried pregnant women’s income for determining Medi-Cal eligibility. The previous version automatically determined Medi-Cal eligibility based on a woman’s income and pregnancy status. Because Medi-Cal considers a pregnant woman a household two at a minimum, many women were tracked into Medi-Cal and not eligible for private health insurance with the subsidies.