Kaiser California brokers asked for improved ways to deal with group accounts and Kaiser Permanente paid attention. Starting in January of 2009, the new Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc., agreements will be mailed out on CD.* This means that the entire contract, including group rates and plan benefits, will be able to be easily accessed in electronic format on PDF files. Brokers and their clients can run searches on these documents electronically. Also, brokers may choose the pages they need and print only those particular sections.

Each time brokers or clients receive a CD, it will also come with a postcard, which allows you to opt out of this new service. Brokers may receive more information by visiting Kaiser Permanente Blueprint for Change or by contacting their Kaiser Permanente representative.

* This does not include pre-renewal notifications or contracts for PPO, POS, and out-of-area plans underwritten by Kaiser Permanente Insurance Company (KPIC).

Posted: November 20th, 2008 under California.
Comments: none

Rates are expected to go up on average around 10% next month. Apply by the end of November to lock in the 2008 rates for one year. Click Kaiser Georgia Individual Health Insurance to get quotes for Kaiser Permanente Georgia Individual and Family Medical Insurance Plans. Call 1-877-752-4737 for live support. To apply, click Kaiser Georgia Application. 

Note: The rates are locked in for one year only if the member keeps the same plan. If members wish to down-grade, the rates will be based on when the down-grade becomes effective. Those who wish to up-grade plans will need to re-apply and rates will be based on the time of the new application.

Posted: November 20th, 2008 under Georgia Individual.
Comments: none

If you are having trouble with the new Kaiser Permanente Apply Online (KPAOL), you are not alone. Many applicants are having difficulties with the new enrollment system. If you’re having problems, you have several options:

1. Get Live Support: When signed into your account, call the phone number in the column on the left.
2. Print a Paper Application: Use this application to apply by fax or mail.
3. Apply Online with Our Secondary Online Application System: Customers who have had difficulty with KPAOL find this version of the online application more user-friendly.

Kaiser Permanente Apply Online Issues and Workarounds

Below are several of the known issues with the system and possible workarounds for applicants:

1. Prior Coverage Policy Numbers that Include Letters: The system currently only allows numeric characters in this field. If you have a policy number that includes letters, you will be stopped in the application at this point. The only thing you can do is simply enter numbers or choose to apply with a paper application.
2. Problems Entering Dates: Date fields do not allow hyphens (-). You may enter dates with forward slashes (11/20/2008) or just numbers (11202008). Also, note that different date fields require different formatting. Most of the fields ask for a two digit day, a two digit month and a four digit year (dd/mm/yyyy). However, be aware that some fields ask for a two digit year (dd/mm/yy) and some fields do not include the day (mm/yyyy). The formatting (mm/dd/yyyy) required is noted in gray inside the field before you click. Be sure to note what the formatting is before clicking on the field because once you click the formatting disappears.
3. Former Doctor: This field may be left blank, but it is not recommended. The absence of former doctor information may slow the processing of your application.
   • What if I don’t have a former doctor?: If you have not had a doctor, leave this field blank.
   • What if my former doctor is from another country?: The system currently is not set up to receive contact information regarding a doctor who is out of the country. One client who had an out-of-country doctor filled in these fields in the following manner in order to get her application through:

-         Physician Name: She didn’t have a dedicated physician, so she entered the name of her clinic.

-         Street Address 1: She only knew the street name, so that’s what she entered.

-         Street Address 2: She entered the out-of-country city name (ie. Tijuana).

-         City: She entered the country (ie. Mexico).

-         State: She put California.

-         ZIP: She entered her California ZIP Code.

-         Phone: She entered her home phone number.

4. Family Members: Add family members such as spouse, domestic partner and children on this page. If you have an extra family member section at the bottom, be sure to click “Remove Family Member” before proceeding to the next page.
5. If you mark married, KPAOL automatically adds your spouse: The system assumes that married applicants will be including their spouse. If you do not wish to include your spouse, you will need to click “Remove Family Member”.
6. After signing back into your account, KPAOL often adds a family member: Every time you come back to the Family Members page, you may need to click “Remove Family Member” on the box that has been added at the bottom of the page. If there is a family member box with blank fields, the KPAOL system will not allow you to proceed to the next page until this “family member” box is removed.

Posted: November 20th, 2008 under California Individual.
Comments: none

Kaiser Permanente is making several changes to the Individual and Family health insurance plans in 2009. Up until now, rates would only change each year in January. In 2009, if a member has a birthday that pushes him/her up to the next age bracket, that member will notice an increase in premium the month following his or her birthday. Also, there are some benefit changes on the Deductible $1500 HMO Plan and the Deductible $30/$2700 HSA Plan.

Deductible $1500 HMO Plan: For chemical dependency transitional residential recovery services, the copayment will be decreasing from $250 per admission (after the deductible) down to $100 per admission (after the deductible). Certain durable medical equipment is no longer covered. Sexual dysfunction devices were covered at 50% of the member rate per item(s), but they will no longer be covered in 2009. For supplementary formulary list DMI, members paid 20% of the member rate per item, but these will no longer be covered. Regarding prosthetics and orthotics, members paid 0% of the member rate per item(s) for items on the supplemental formulary list; in 2009, these will not be covered.

Deductible $30/$2700 HSA Plan: In 2008, this plan offered prescription drug coverage. Members paid $10 for a 30-day supply of generic drugs after the deductible and $30 for a 30-day supply of brand-name drugs after the deductible. In 2009, this plan no longer includes prescription drug coverage. 

Posted: November 19th, 2008 under California Individual.
Comments: none

KPAOL, the KPIF (Kaiser Permanente Individuals and Families) Online Application has arrived. This new format allows Kaiser Permanente to collect an increased amount of information from those who apply. In the previous online application, enrollees with pre-existing health conditions completed their application, and then they had to wait to be sent follow up questions. The new system asks these follow up questions right away online.

The application is a lot longer and a bit tedious to complete, but it does speed up the process of evaluating the applications so underwriters can process enrollment forms more quickly. There are more than double the amount of questions on KPAOL as compared to the previous Kaiser Permanente online application. The questionnaire goes into great detail on skin conditions, circulatory issues, digestive conditions and much more.

Many applicants get frustrated with the online application. It is long and detailed. Also, form validation issues cause customers to frequently get stuck and need to call for support. Many enrollees give up and say, “Just send me a paper application.” Kaiser Permanente is working on these issues that have been frustrating for customers and hopes to make KPAOL more user-friendly in the future.

Posted: November 17th, 2008 under California Individual.
Comments: none

In most cases, employers who have a Kaiser Permanente business health insurance plan, may not fund or reimburse their employees for healthcare costs. Why not? At first glance, this seems odd. Why can’t an employer help out an employee who is struggling to pay for medical expenses such as copayments, coinsurance, emergency visits before a deductible is met, etc? You would think Kaiser Permanente would want to encourage such benevolence. However, unless your employees are on an HRA Plan or an HSA Plan, this is not allowed.

Let me explain why. When employers fund or reimburse their employees for medical costs, utilization goes up, meaning members go to the doctor more often, stay in the hospital longer, visit emergency more frequently, etc. This higher utilization drives up costs for Kaiser Permanente as employees use healthcare that may not have been completely necessary. When Kaiser determined rates and pricing for these plans, they calculated them based on the understanding that employers would not fund or reimburse their employees. If some employers were allowed to continue this practice, utilization would increase, and ultimately Kaiser Permanente would have to raise prices for all groups on such plans.

Let me make a recommendation for generous employers who want the ability to assist their employees in this way. Offer your employees one of Kaiser Permanente’s deductible plans with HSA. These plans are government qualified so employees can have health savings accounts. Employers may contribute to these HSA accounts. Ask your tax advisor about regulations on employer contributions to Health Savings Accounts.

Posted: November 17th, 2008 under California Group.
Comments: none

The new Kaiser Permanente paper application for Individuals and Families in California begins with a section about the “Financially Responsible Party”. This is simply the person who will take care of the bill. Any person can be the financial responsible party. This could be a mother paying for her 30 year old son, or an employer covering an employee on a private plan. Part of this section asks for the address of the “Covered Party”, meaning the person who will be actually receiving the health insurance coverage. The rest of this section is for the financially responsible party.

You may notice this is the only section where phone number and email address are entered. Thus, if the financially responsible party is not also the covered party, Kaiser Permanente will not get this contact information for the covered party. This may have been an oversight on the part of those who created the application. Perhaps, in future revisions to the enrollment forms, Kaiser will correct this.

Posted: November 12th, 2008 under California Individual.
Comments: none

California groups who apply with Kaiser Permanente by the end of November, 2008 will receive substantial savings on their small business health insurance plans.

Apply This Month Before Rates Go Up
After November, rates are going up on average around 10%.

Lock in Low Rates for One Year
Apply now  to lock in the 2008 rates for one year. Choose from Copayment Plans, Deductible Plans and HSA-Qualified Plans. Choose Copayment Plans for richer coverage and more first dollar benefits, or select from our Deductible Plans to save on your monthly premiums.

You May Qualify for Group Health Insurance
Self-employed, husband-wife businesses and small business owners often qualify for group health insurance.

Apply: To go directly to the Small Group Application, click Apply Now.
Support: For live support, Chat Online or call 1-877-752-4737.

Posted: November 11th, 2008 under California Group.
Comments: none

Individuals and Families applying for Kaiser Permanente medical plans in California now have the option of beginning coverage on the 1st of the month or on the 15th. Apply by the 8th to start your coverage on the 15th of this month, or apply by the 23rd to start your coverage on the 1st of the next month.

If you apply for the 15th of the month, your premium for the first month will be pro-rated, and then you will be billed month to month. For most customers who enroll for the 15^th, this means they will receive their first bill around the 10^th of the next month. This first bill will be approximately 1 ½ times their premium (depending on the amount of days in that particular month). From then on, they will receive a bill each month around the 10^th for their regular monthly premium.

Posted: November 5th, 2008 under California Individual.
Comments: none