ORANGE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CaliforniaChoice, the nation’s most successful small-group private health insurance exchange, announced today that its 2014 carrier network will include many of the state’s best-known and most widely sought-after health plans. Participating health plans include Aetna, Anthem Blue Cross, Health Net, Kaiser Permanente, Sharp Health Plan and Western Health Advantage.
“Offering consumers broad choice among health plans, access to multiple provider networks, and different HMO, EPO, and PPO plan designs is key to giving the public what they want and need in these changing times,” said Ron Goldstein, president and CEO of CHOICE Administrators, which operates CaliforniaChoice. “We’ve assembled a network of exceptional carriers with benefit models and price points that are consistent within the market and that make healthcare accessible and affordable for all Californians.”
Currently more than two-thirds of all Californians get their health insurance through private carriers, and the health plans included in the 2014 CaliforniaChoice network account for more than 75 percent of that marketshare.
Small-group employers who offer CaliforniaChoice provide their employees with a wide selection of coverage tiers, each with various benefit options, deductibles and copayment levels. These range from platinum (the richest benefits) to gold, silver and bronze levels. Altogether, employers and their employees participating in CaliforniaChoice in 2014 will have 34 HMOs, two EPOs, and 13 PPO plan designs from which to choose. In addition, CaliforniaChoice will continue to offer a selection of dental, vision, chiropractic and life options while also unveiling its new Business Solutions Suite, which provides all employers with no-cost additional products and services such as discount dental, voluntary vision, online human resource support, and an employee discount program.
“The future success of public and private exchanges will hinge on their ability to provide broad provider network options and exceptional customer service,” said Goldstein. “That is what we have been committed to for the past 17 years and will continue to advocate going forward.” As evidence of that point, Goldstein says that much of the success of CaliforniaChoice can be attributed directly to the outstanding relationship it has had with carriers throughout its history. “In fact,” he says, “these carrier relationships have been pivotal in helping to establish and define our small-group private exchange.”
Exchanges, both public and private, are similar to health insurance “shopping malls” where consumers, employers, employees and brokers can compare plans side by side based on cost, provider network, benefit designs and their Business Solutions Suites. CaliforniaChoice helped pioneer the health insurance exchange concept in the 1990s and has been a leading advocate ever since in educating the market about the benefits of exchanges and continually developing new products and services that respond to marketplace demand. CaliforniaChoice currently serves more than 10,000 employers and 150,000 employees.
Throughout its 17 year history, CaliforniaChoice has been offered exclusively through independent brokers and during that time has provided the broker community with the customer service support they need to be successful. This includes sales representatives available by phone or in-person, year-round product trainings, enrollment and renewal assistance – including bilingual support – and one of the industry’s premier online quoting engines. Goldstein says that CaliforniaChoices’ commitment to brokers will continue in 2014, adding that “given all of the changes that are being driven by the Affordable Care Act and other market forces, a health insurance broker’s role is more important than ever in helping to provide the information and unbiased recommendations purchasers need to make well-informed decisions as well as provide service for routine issues and serious policy interpretation issues.”
CaliforniaChoice is a division of CHOICE Administrators, the nation’s leading developer and administrator of consumer-choice insurance exchange models. Further information is available at www.calchoice.com.
