Clear Protection 5000 Health Insurance Plan

A Look at the New Clear Protection 5000 Health Insurance Plan from Anthem Blue Cross

There has been a lot of talk in recent months about the so-called “public option.”  So much in fact that a number of private health insurance companies have started to look for ways to make their individual health insurance plans more affordable and more flexible.  While the majority of Americans still receive their health care benefits through their employers, there are a growing number of self-employed individuals and small business owners who must turn to the individual market to purchase the health insurance coverage they need. 

Until recently those individuals faced limited options and high costs, but the tide may finally be turning.  Spurred on in part by the debate over national health care and health insurance reform, a number of leading names in the health insurance industry, including Anthem Blue Cross of California, are offering more affordable plans to the self-employed, the small business owner and the uninsured.

The Clear Protection 5000 has been introduced by Anthem Blue Cross of California as their answer to the public option that has been so hotly debated recently.  This plan offers PPO style coverage, allowing participants to choose their own doctors from a large list of participating providers.  Anthem Blue Cross even provides a powerful and user friendly lookup tool plan participants can use to find general practitioners, family physicians, specialists, urgent care centers and hospital facilities across the state and across the country.

One of the things that helps to keep the premiums low on this plan is the fact that it carries a high deductible of $5,000 for an individual and $10,000 for a family. While this deductible can seem daunting, the premium savings can be substantial.

Another highlight of the ClearProtection 5000 plan from Anthem Blue Cross is how the plan handles prescription drug coverage. Like many new plans that have been springing up across the country, the Anthem Blue Cross Clear Protection 5000 plan provides coverage for generic medications, along with a limited brand formulary.  Since generic drugs are generally much less costly than their brand name equivalents, the plan is able to save a considerable amount of money on prescriptions.  Those cost savings are in turn passed on to the consumer, allowing the premium rates to be lower and making the plan more affordable to a greater percentage of uninsured California residents.

Another feature of the Clear Protection 5000 plan that many shoppers will like is the fact that the premium is guaranteed not for a single year but for a full two years (some restrictions apply).  With the rate of health insurance inflation far surpassing the rate of general inflation for the past couple of decades, this option provides important protection for those shopping in the individual health care market.

The Clear Protection 5000 plan also allows plan participants to choose their own specialists, a feature that many competing plans currently lack.  This freedom of choice helps to provide plan participants with the flexibility they are looking for in health coverage, without sacrificing an affordable monthly price.

Preventative care is addressed in the Clear Protection 5000 plan as well.  The plan provides coverage for the first two doctor visits for each member of the family with a $40 co-payment.  The plan also waives the deductible for those visits.

Another way the Anthem Blue Cross Clear Protection 5000 plan keeps premiums low is by not offering coverage for maternity care.  One of the factors that has driven premium costs higher year after year is the fact that many states mandate certain coverage, including maternity care.  This forces men, and women who are past their child bearing years, to bear the costs associated with the maternity care of other program participants.  By agreeing to forgo such coverage, participants in the Clear Protection 5000 plan can enjoy lower premiums and more predictable health care costs.

Emergency services are covered by the Clear Protection 5000 plan, subject to a 40% co-payment requirement and a $100 emergency room co-payment.  However, these co-payment charges are waived if the patient is admitted to the hospital for inpatient care.  This emergency room provision is also designed to lower costs by encouraging the intelligent use of emergency care and encouraging the use of less costly alternatives like urgent care centers and walk-in medical clinics.

The Clear Protection 5000 plan offered by Anthem Blue Cross represents an interesting new direction in the world of health insurance.  By shifting more of the decision making process to policyholders, the plan hopes to hold down costs and make individual health care coverage more affordable for the entire population.

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