Blue Cross Blue Shield To Drop 4,000 Medicare Advantage Customers
by October 4, 2014 3:03 pm 242 views
Janelle Lilley with our content partner, KATV Ch. 7 news, reports:
Beginning January 2015, Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) will no longer offer Medicare Advantage plans to residents in 23 Arkansas counties.
According to the insurance company, that means about 4,000 people will either need to find a different guaranteed supplemental program in BCBS or switch to a Medicare Advantage program offered by another provider, if one is available.
Notices of the cancellation have already been sent out to customers who must take action before December 31 or else they will lose their prescription drug coverage and be left with only the original Medicare.
Customers can enroll in a new plan between October 15, 2014, and February 28, 2015. If a person does not enroll in a plan with prescription drug coverage by the February deadline, he will not have prescription coverage in 2015 or must pay a late-enrollment penalty.
According to a spokesperson for Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield, the plan cancellations are a “business decision” by the insurance company as a result of government regulations.
The following are the counties where Medicare Advantage will no longer be offered: Clay, Sharp, Independence, Jackson, Saline, Prairie, Arkansas, Grant, Desha, Drew, Chicot, Ashley, Bradley, Cleveland, Calhoun, Columbia, Lafayette, Miller, Little River, Sevier, Hempstead, Randolph, and Stone.
Read Lilley’s full report here.