Anthem BCBS has received approval to bring their NY based PPO to Connecticut. The plan is simply better than all other plans being offered for 2012
The PPO will be available starting January 1, 2012 and offers an advantage over all competitors in CT. The plan offers the basic features of $0 monthly premium, $0 copay for primary doctor and $0 copay for Generic Drugs. To further strengthen the offering the In network and Out of network Out of Pocket Max will be $3,400 combined. The hospital copay is $250 a day for a max of 6 days both in and out of network.
The plan offers a bunch of less often acknowledged but non the less important benefits such as Major Radiology copay of $100, expanded Rx list including the Barbituates classed drugs, ect…..
The plan is not perfect as it does have a $60 Rx deductible for name brand drugs but the other benefits are so much better than the competing plans for 2012 that will not have much impact. The key will be to see if they are able to maintain these benefits for more than one year. It makes one wonder how they are going to be able to offer such a strong program compared to other large carriers in the market such as United Healthcare and Aetna.
Time will tell if they are trying to buy membership for one year just to make major benefit downgrades for 2013