The Pennsylvania health insurance “insurer of last resort,” Blue Cross Blue Shield plans are required to provide guaranteed issue health insurance plans to all individuals and families, regardless of their medical conditions or histories. Blue Cross officials say the result has been a steady erosion in their ability to cover the health insurance plans’ costs through their premium base.
About 27,000 people who buy Personal Choice health insurance directly from Independence Blue Cross rather than through an employer are facing steep increases in their premiums in March to maintain similar coverage.
Despite angry complaints from policyholders, Blue Cross says the changes are necessary because of continuing losses in the Personal Choice plans.
Blue Cross announced the health insurance plans’ withdrawal to policyholders in a mid-December letter, giving them until January 15 to decide between two new plans: Personal Choice Basic, which includes benefits similar to the least costly of the three current plans but at much higher premiums, and Personal Choice Value HSA, a more affordable plan that features high deductibles and is designed to be paired with a health savings account.
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