Covered California’s unpaid premiums: New explanation
By Jondi Gumz, Santa Cruz Sentinel, Calif. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
Covered
They discovered their doctors were not in Anthem's Covered California network for
In both cases, the confusion arose over doctors in the Palo Alto Medical Foundation Santa Cruz.
"Anthem hasn't figured out I'm gone," said
Rittenhouse, who has seen doctors at PAMF for 20 years, had an Anthem policy that cost
He was on hold for two hours trying to reach Anthem before calling his insurance agent for help. His new policy with
Rittenhouse said Anthem sent him a letter suggesting he switch his prescriptions to
"What happens to all the people who work in the drugstore?" he asked.
Two locally owned pharmacies, Tom's and Bruce's, have closed since the Affordable Care Act took effect.
At first he wanted to dump Anthem and pick another plan by
The couple appealed for a "continuity of care" waiver so the same surgeon who performed the first operation could perform a follow-up operation at the lower in-network rate, and PAMF bills incurred to date be considered in-network.
Friday, five working days after making the request, Stevens learned Anthem approved the request and eagerly shared the news.
"We are very happy with this decision," he said.
Stevens thought he did his homework, choosing Anthem after his wife was dropped by Aetna, which left the
"Covered
He said he wishes Anthem, Covered California and PAMF had done more to provide accurate information about which doctors are in the network.
That's a lesson that could take some of the panic out of the fall enrollment.
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