California health insurance - Kaiser is coming to Santa Cruz
County
Kaiser Is Moving to Santa Cruz...and Prices Will Fall
If you're in Santa Cruz and reeling from the recent rate increase, we have some good news.
Kaiser came to town 2017!
This is true for both Employer health insurance and individual/family insurance.
Why is this exciting.
Here's a prospect we just sent a quote to for Jan 2017 renewal.
Couple in their 50's. Their Blue Cross renewal was $1302. Blue Shield's PPO was $1485. Kaiser was $1010.
That's $4-5K in annual savings for one couple.
That's their entire deductible (and almost max) for one person.
Companies are seeing similar savings (see below).
We can also combine Kaiser with other carriers through Covered Ca or Cal Choice for companies.
Get your Kaiser rates here:
Individual and Family (including Covered Ca) quote for Kaiser Santa Cruz
Employer Health Plan quote for Kaiser in Santa Cruz
Further below, we'll also describe why surprisingly, Kaiser might be the perfect fit for Santa Cruz.
Let's look get more detail on what to expect.
Kaiser expansion into Santa Cruz
Locations
Santa Cruz will have 3 satellite locations in the area:
- Downtown Santa Cruz
- Scotts Valley
- Watsonville
All three locations will offer primary care and the Watsonville and Scott Valley will also offer specialty services.
Of course, Kaiser is on the cutting edge of telemedicine which will be available from all locations.
Kaiser Hospitals in Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz members will have access to hospital services at Watsonville Community Hospital as well as medical centers in Santa Clara and San Jose.
Santa Cruz plans to expand further in the future as membership needs warrant new development.
So let's look at how to take advantage of this new option based on market segment.
Kaiser in Santa Cruz by Market Segment
There are two different ways to enroll in Kaiser and we can assist with either one as licensed Kaiser agents.
Our services are 100% free to you and we focus on helping people navigate opportunities such as Kaiser entering Santa Cruz.
Let's look at each segment including expected savings. You can jump to the area by clicking below:
Individual and Family including Covered California
Small Business (1-100 employees) and Large Business (100+)
Individual and Family Santa Cruz
Individuals and families in Santa Cruz can now quote and enroll in Kaiser.
There are two ways to do this.
One is to enroll directly with Kaiser (you can quote/apply here for "off-Exchange").
The other is to set up Kaiser through Covered Ca. We can enroll in 5 minutes by phone with full tax credit calculation (saves you about 45 min - 1 hour).
Either way, there's no cost for our services.
Which way should you go?
Enroll in Kaiser for Santa Cruz
We enroll most people through Covered Ca for two reasons.
- If there's even a possibility of a tax credit, that's the only way to get it.
- With a 5 minute enrollment by phone at 800-320-6269, it's easier and faster.
Here's more info on the tax credit piece to see if you qualify.
Call us at 800-320-6269 and we'll get you all set up for 1/1/2017.
One note...there are new rules now and if we miss Open Enrollment (Nov 1st - Jan 31st), you may not be able to switch to Kaiser until next Jan 1st.
There can be Special Enrollment triggers (loss of coverage, move, family make-up change, etc). More info Special Enrollment here.
Kaiser Plans in Santa Cruz
Keep in mind that the plans are all standardized now.
There are 4 discreet levels: Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum
By law, a Silver plans has to walk and talk the same whether it's Kaiser, Anthem Blue Cross, or Blue Shield.
So what's different (besides the pricing) between Kaiser and the other carriers in Santa Cruz?
First, Kaiser has it's own facilities and physicians. It's a one-stop shop. This
may be the winning focus going forward.
Think integration between doctors, labs, and insurer.
It's the future. It may be the only future that's affordable at the rate we're going.
If the plans are the same now, the real focus is the provider. The actual doctor and facility.
Kaiser has made huge advances here and again, it may be where everything is going.
Kaiser now has some of the best doctors in a given area.
Many qualify doctors are tired with the business management side of things (fighting insurance companies, liability costs, etc).
They want to care for patients. Kaiser allows them to do this and takes the management headaches away.
That can be pretty compelling to many doctors who genuinely got into the profession to treat people.
Even though Kaiser is traditionally thought of as an HMO, It's flipped the focus on it's head.
Test Kaiser in Santa Cruz
Here's the deal.
With Open Enrollment, we can change plans and or carriers at the end of each year.
Regardless of health.
We're not locked in so you can change to Kaiser and try it out.
Either way, you can quick quote Kaiser versus other carriers in Santa Cruz (including tax credit calculation) here.
Call us at 800-320-6269 if you have any questions.
Employer Sponsored Kaiser Health Plans in Santa Cruz
We're pretty excited.
It's hard to get excited about health insurance (especially now with the last few years of rate increases).
Here's the critical stat regarding Kaiser's entry into the Santa Cruz market for Employer based health coverage:
Expected Savings against other Santa Cruz carriers - 33%
We're seeing average savings of 33% in the area.
This is ridiculous!
Keep in mind that the plans are standardized now. A Silver plan is a silver plan, +/- 2%.
This makes it real easy to compare apples and apples against the two dominant carriers (Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of California).
In fact, the first thing we'll do when your run your Kaiser group quote in Santa Cruz is create a summary level report across all major carriers for a benchmark Silver plan.
There's no cost for this service and the rates are guaranteed to be the best available.
The results should jump out at you from there.
This will establish, for a given census, what we can expect but it gets better.
We can then create personalize worksheets by employee with a range of Kaiser plans available to each one.
The employer can fix their contribution to a percentage of a certain plan, a fixed dollar amount, or a general percentage to any plan.
This way, the employer can protect their benefits budget.
Here's the deal.
As the employer, you want your employees to have the best coverage that you and they can afford.
If the Kaiser rates allows an employee to get a Silver plan (copays, rx, much lower deductible, etc) for the same price as the Bronze with another carrier...
It's a disservice not to do it. Seriously.
The goal is for them to get help medically when they need it without worrying about how to pay for it.
THAT is what makes for an appreciative employee.
The savings with Kaiser may allow employees to get richer benefits for the same price OR get benefits at all with a less rich plan.
All good news for your employees and your budget.
There may be a way to have the best of both worlds for Employers in Santa Cruz.
Group health plans with Kaiser and other carriers
There are ways to combine Kaiser for those employees who like Kaiser and want the savings in Santa Cruz with other carriers who want to keep doctors or PPO's.
Three different ways to do it.
- There's the Kaiser Wrap. This essentially allows Kaiser to wrap around another carrier. We can create worksheets for employees that show their options based on a contribution towards a given Kaiser plan so that the employer can protect it's budget.
- CalChoice or Covered Ca. We can offer Kaiser along side other carriers in CalChoice or Covered Ca so employees can pick and choose.
- Special Enrollment window. At the end of each year, there's a special enrollment window where participation and contribution requirements are waived. During this time, we can combine two carriers with partial participation.
Ultimately, Option # 2 (Covered Ca or Cal Choice) is the most seamless approach and most employers are happiest with this option.
The rates are the same within these Private Exchanges so we will generally quote this when you want to combine Kaiser and another carrier.
There may even be tax credits to companies if they have 25 or fewer employees and an average salary (not including owners/officers) of below $50K.
We'll run that calculation as well if we're in the ballpark.
Why Kaiser and Santa Cruz Actually Make Strange (but happy) Bedfellows
Santa Cruz is the home of the Slugs. If counter culture could be a culture, Santa Cruz would adopt it (but that's too confining).
How could Kaiser possibly mesh with Santa Cruz?
Quite well, in fact.
We haven't always been huge Kaiser proponents but things have changed.
Significantly.
Kaiser's approach of a "team of doctors" working together is no different from the UC's teaching hospital's approach (think UCSF).
That's a great model!
There's oversight. There's collaboration.
More importantly.
We have to re-think our take on the HMO model in the way Kaiser does it.
If you're the insurer AND the provider, your goal is to catch the small things early and keep them from becoming big things.
Lower the cholesterol now. Avoid open heart surgery 5-10 years from now.
Ummm....yes, I would like that.
Let's be totally jaded (not very Santa Cruz) and look at this from a financial point of view.
Their goal is not driven by utilization (which is single-handedly the reason health insurance has spiraled) but by long term results.
They are non-profit by the way (very Santa Cruzian).
How does this translate in the real world?
Quick and personal example.
A female client in her mid 40's went in to her OBGyn. She wasn't feeling well...cycle was all over the place.
Doctor pretty quickly recommend full hysterectomy after seeing small cysts (which didn't grow or change over time).
Instead, she went to acupuncturist who normalized her cycles and has her feeling much better (in addition to gut inflammation fix since health all starts in the gut these days).
What a difference of opinion. Complete hysterectomy and lifelong hormone replacement...or
Weekly acupuncture for a period of time.
The motive for Kaiser is to try the latter first. Previously, we would have demonized this (trying to get out of paying) but now, maybe we had it all wrong.
That's the Kaiser model. It's also the Single Payer model really.
Tell me that doesn't fit Santa Cruz.
Oh...and yes, it's significantly cheaper with better long-term health results.
So....let us help you quote and compare Kaiser in Santa Cruz.
You can run your Santa Cruz Kaiser health quote here: Individual/Family or Business health
You can also email us for a secured email to send your census.
You can also call us at 800-320-6269 with any questions.
Either way, competition is coming to Santa Cruz health insurance and it's about time!
Our Services are 100% free to you as licensed California health agents and we're right here in Carmel (your southern neighbors).
And oh yea, keep Santa Cruz weird!
Call us at 800-320-6269 and we can go through any questions or run your instant Quote including Covered Ca with tax credit calculation here. Thanks!