Blue Cross of California to Provide Coverage for 580,000 Uninsured Children in All 58 California Counties; Proven Medi-Cal Track Record Earns Blue Cross Healthy Families Contract.WOODLAND HILLS, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--July 13, 1998--Nearly 600,000 uninsured children and teenagers throughout California will now have access to low-cost health-care coverage through Blue Cross of California, thanks to Healthy Families, a new state program which provides low-cost health insurance for children and teenagers of low-income families who earn too much income to qualify for Medi-Cal, but not enough to afford health-care insurance. Blue Cross, the California subsidiary of WellPoint Health Networks Inc. (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :WLP WLP WebLogic Portal (Bea Systems) WLP Wafer Level Packaging WLP Women's Learning Partnership (Bethesda, MD) WLP Workplace Learning & Performance WLP World Library Partnership, Inc. ), was awarded participation in California's Healthy Families program, and is the only health plan to participate in all 58 California counties. In 36 counties -- nearly 62 percent of the state -- Blue Cross was designated as the Community Plan, offering the highest percentage of safety net providers of the plans available. "Access to affordable, quality health care and programs, such as Healthy Families, are vital to the health and future of our communities throughout California," said John Monahan, general manager, Medi-Cal and Healthy Families Programs, Blue Cross of California. "Our experience in providing access to care for California's Medi-Cal communities has well prepared us for serving our new Healthy Families beneficiaries." Healthy Families will be administered through Blue Cross' Medi-Cal Programs division, which was established in 1994 to service Medi-Cal contracts. The division's efficiency and strong provider networks have contributed to the program's rapid growth to more than 400,000 members. The plan will function as a Health Maintenance Organization (HMO HMO health maintenance organization. HMO n. A corporation that is financed by insurance premiums and has member physicians and professional staff who provide curative and preventive medicine within certain financial, ) in counties where a Blue Cross Medi-Cal program has already been established, and an Exclusive Provider Organization exclusive provider organization (EPO), n a dental benefits plan that provides benefits only if care is rendered by institutional and professional providers with whom the plan contracts (with some exceptions for emergency and out-of-area services). (EPO EPO see erythropoietin. EPO Erythropoietin, see there ) plan, using Blue Cross' extensive Prudent Buyer Preferred Provider Organization pre·ferred provider organization n. Abbr. PPO A medical insurance plan in which members receive more coverage if they choose health care providers approved by or affiliated with the plan. (PPO PPO abbr. preferred provider organization PPO Managed care Preferred provider organization, see there Infectious disease Pleuropneumonia-like organism, see there ) network in other counties. "This program not only benefits children and teens, many of whom will have health coverage for the first time, but it also helps their parents become familiar with the health care system and understand how it can work for them," said Monahan. California was one of the first states in the nation to enact legislation to implement the federal Children's Health Children's Health Definition Children's health encompasses the physical, mental, emotional, and social well-being of children from infancy through adolescence. Insurance Program in the form of Healthy Families. Under the program, families earning less than 200 percent of the poverty level and without health coverage through an employer can choose a plan combination from a list of health, dental and vision insurers in their county that contract with the state. Healthy Families offers no deductibles or co-pays for preventative care or hospital stays, and $5 co-payments for doctor visits and prescriptions. The program is funded in part from tobacco taxes through an expansion of the federal Social Security Act. Blue Cross of California, with nearly 4.4 million medical members, is the California operating subsidiary of WellPoint Health Networks, one of the nation's largest publicly traded managed care companies. Based in Woodland Hills, WellPoint serves the health-care needs of more than 6.7 million medical and more than 22 million specialty members nationally. WellPoint offers a broad spectrum of quality network-based health products including HMO, PPO and specialty managed care products. Specialty products include pharmacy benefit management A Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) is a third party administrator of prescription drug programs. They are primarily responsible for processing and paying prescription drug claims. , dental, utilization management, vision, mental health, life and disability insurance, flexible spending accounts, COBRA administration, Medicare supplements, and 24-hour, integrated, network-based workers' compensation workers' compensation, payment by employers for some part of the cost of injuries, or in some cases of occupational diseases, received by employees in the course of their work. coverage.
CONTACT: Rhonda Seaton, 818/703-2566
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