Blue Shield of California Q1-2024 Updates
Oct 16, 2023, 4 Minute Read
Blue Shield of California remains committed to providing your small group clients with comprehensive benefits that prioritize the well-being of employees. Here’s a summary of the changes for the first quarter of 2024.
Q1-2024 Rates
- Rates are now available through PRISM, our free and easy online quoting system.
- The Q1-2024 rate action is a statewide average of 3%.
- More information can be found on Broker Connection.
Q1-2024 Renewals
- January 2024 renewals are now available. February and March 2024 renewals will be available on November 9th.
- Visit the Renewal Center page on Broker Connection for more information.
Medical Plans
- 2 new Virtual BlueSM plans are available:
– Virtual Blue Platinum Tandem PPO 250/20
– Virtual Blue Silver Tandem PPO 2700/75
Virtual Blue plans are now offered on all 4 metal tiers.
- There are minimal portfolio and plan design changes for 2024.
- The 2024 medical plan names have been mapped to the 2023 plan names.
- 2024 Medical Plans at a Glance provides a list of all 2024 plans with descriptions, value-add, and select benefit cost shares.
- 2024 Medical Plan Cheat Sheet is an easy to share list of all 2024 plan offerings.
- Q1-2024 Medical Sales Guide provides comprehensive information about selling Blue Shield of CA products and the value proposition.
Dental Plans
Vision Plans
- EyeMed is the new vision network provider, replacing MES Vision. EyeMed and MES have been working together to ensure a smooth transition.
- Portfolio vision changes include:
• Optometric out-of-network (OON) visits now match ophthalmologic cost share.
• Eyeglass frame OON allowance has increased.
• All vision plans include both Standard and Progressive lenses (no-line bifocals) benefits.
• Contact lens benefit updates:
– Electives – reduce OON allowance to match OON frame allowance.
– Non-elective (medically necessary) – same cost share for hard and soft contacts.
- Q1-2024 Specialty Sales Guide includes all the dental and vision plan offerings.
- The bonus program is in effect from February 1, 2024 through January 31, 2025.
- Brokers can earn points for every new Tandem and Virtual Blue PPO membership for renewing groups.
• 100 points per new enrolled member in a Tandem PPO or Virtual Blue plan as part of the initial sale.
• 50 points per new enrolled medical member on all plans, excluding Tandem and Virtual Blue PPO plans as part of the initial sale.
• 10 points per new enrolled member in a small business dental plan.
• 5 points per new enrolled member in a small business vision plan.
• 5 points per new enrolled member in a small business life insurance plan.
• 2x points for each new member enrolling in all three: dental, vision, and life (40 points total).
- The current Small Business Incentive Program is good through January 31, 2024. The new program above includes a change in points earned for non-Tandem and Virtual Blue plans.
Brokers can earn points for every new Tandem and Virtual Blue PPO membership.
- 100 points per new enrolled member in a Tandem PPO or plan. February 2023 – January 2024 effective dates.
- 100 points per new enrolled member in a Virtual Blue plan. March 2023 – January 2024 effective dates.
- Specialty plans. February 2023 – January 2024 effective dates.
• 10 points per new enrolled dental member.
• 5 points per new enrolled vision member.
• 5 points per new enrolled life member.
The 10% specialty discount is a perpetual program that is applied when a dental and/or vision plan is added to a new or existing small business medical group.
The Relaxed Participation Promotion has been extended through December 31, 2024.
- Download market-ready slides for presentations (PPTX compatible) in addition to PDFs.
- Compare up to six plans at a time, instead of four plans.
- Compare year-over-year for dental plans and include the withdrawn plans. There’s an option to auto-select a mapped dental plan or a new plan for the withdrawn dental plans.
- New Blue Shield brand style.
More information and plan summaries can be found in Blue Shield’s Q1-2024 Medical Sales Guide and Specialty Sales Guide.
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Contact The Answer Team at 800.696.4543 or info@claremontcompanies.com.
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