Change is Hard

UC changed insurance carriers from Blue Shield to Blue Cross last January 1. But for retired employees, bills kept being sent to Blue Shield which, of course, rejected them. Currently, the situation is that bills are being sent to both carriers and thus retirees get rejections from Blue Shield but bills are being paid by Blue Cross. See the announcement below from the UCLA Emeriti/Retirees Relations Center (ERRC):

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Update on Blue Shield/Anthem Transition Issues 

The Emeriti/Retirees Relations Center recently received this information from the UC Office of the President:

Some retirees who are enrolled in Anthem/Blue Cross Medicare health care plans continue to receive Explanation of Benefits (EOBs) from Blue Shield of CA, denying coverage for claims incurred in 2017.   

This issue has occurred with the recent change from Blue Shield to Anthem/Blue Cross. Blue Shield has not been able to correct the crossover information with Medicare electronically so each retiree record must be changed manually.  

 

The good news is Anthem's crossover is in place with Medicare so claims are being paid correctly by them. However, you may receive two different EOBs for 2017 claims - one from Anthem stating that the claim has been paid and one from Blue Shield stating that the same claim has been denied. 

 

For 2017 claims, please disregard the Blue Shield denial EOBs. Claims are being correctly paid by Anthem/Blue Cross. The issue should be completely resolved within the next three weeks.

We realize that this has caused confusion for retirees. Questions or concerns should be directed to the Retirement Administration Service Center (RASC) at 1(800) 888-8267.