Blue Shield of California Takes the Lead: Offers Tax Break.SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 13, 1997--Blue Shield of California announced today that the California Department of Corporations (DOC) has approved Blue Shield's introduction of two Medical Savings Account  This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject.Please help recruit one or [ improve this article] yourself. See the talk page for details. (MSA (Metropolitan Service Area) An urban area with at least 50,000 people plus surrounding counties. There are 306 MSAs and 428 RSAs (rural service areas) in the U.S. MSAs and RSAs are used to allocate cellular licenses. )-Eligible Plans for individuals and families. Blue Shield is the first DOC approved California health plan offering its customers the option to participate in the nationwide pilot program of tax-advantaged savings plans. The funds in an MSA can only be used for health care expenses, including health plan deductibles and co-payments, but the funds can also earn tax-deferred interest. The introduction of MSA-eligible plans is consistent with Blue Shield of California's mission to offer a full line of health care plans. Blue Shield has complied with DOC requirements for prior approval. The DOC is the state agency responsible for regulating health care service plans. Starting Jan. 1, 1997, these two MSA-eligible PPO PPO abbr. preferred provider organization PPO Managed care Preferred provider organization, see there Infectious disease Pleuropneumonia-like organism, see there plans, called Preferred Savings Plans, will be available to the public. One Preferred Savings Plan has deductibles of $1,500 to $2,250 per year for an individual, and $3,000 to $4,500 for a family. The MSAs extend the value of the health care dollar. Blue Shield's MSA-eligible plan provides members a tax-deferred investment opportunity. Over 200,000 of Blue Shield's 350,000 IFP (1) (Intelligent Forms Processing) Using advanced techniques to scan documents and determine their data content. See ICR. (2) (Integer Factorization Problem) The difficulty of finding prime numbers in an encryption key. members have already purchased high-deductible products that are similar to the MSA eligible plan design. In addition, Blue Shield will offer a health plan to individuals who have been refused health coverage and are waiting for the limited number of slots in the State subsidized program. California's statewide Major Risk Medical Insurance Program (MRMIP MRMIP Major Risk Medical Insurance Program ) provides health insurance subsidies for a limited number of qualified uninsured persons. Following DOC approval, Blue Shield will offer a PPO and 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, bridge plan identical to the MRMIP program to individuals on the MRMIP waiting list. "With our MRMIP look-alike products," said Wayne Moon, chairman and chief executive officer, "we will expand insurance coverage to those who might otherwise be uninsured." Finally, Blue Shield is also announcing full implementation of the outpatient Drug Formulary formulary /for·mu·lary/ (for´mu-lar?e) a collection of recipes, formulas, and prescriptions. National Formulary see under N. for·mu·lar·y n. Program. The Formulary includes a comprehensive list of effective generic and brand name drugs for our providers and members. Use of a Drug Formulary is currently an industry accepted practice. Pharmacy costs are one of the fastest rising components of the cost of health care for health plans. To ensure quality and to compensate for rising pharmacy costs, Blue Shield's Formulary implementation is an alternative to significant increases in health plan premiums across the board. In the long-term, pharmacy cost trends will stabilize due to the use of high quality cost-effective drugs, and keep members' prescription drug co-payments down. Blue Shield of California Blue Shield of California is a not-for-profit health insurance provider headquartered in San Francisco, California. An independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, Blue Shield of California is an incorporated, wholly owned subsidiary of California Physicians' , a not-for-profit since 1939, has 1.5 million members -- over 375,000 in its HMO and 1.12 million in its PPO. CONTACT: Blue Shield of California Lisa Citron citron (sĭt`rən), name for a tree (Citrus medica) of the family Rutaceae (orange family), and for its fruit, the earliest of the citrus fruits to be introduced to Europe from Asia. , 415/445-5281 |
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