August Edition
BCBSIL© Renewal News
We are getting a lot of questions regarding our BCBSIL Group renewals. Therefore, we are sending a clarification since this is the first set of renewals after the 9/23/10 deadline of groups installed or renewing six months after the passage of the PPACA law and the first month where the dreaded term of “Grandfathered plan designs” comes into play.

1.) All BCBSIL renewals are considered Grandfathered as long as the employer does not make any plan contribution reductions or plan changes. NOTE: Page two of your renewal packet/plan designs shows the Grandfathered plans. The nominal “block changes that BCBSIL made” of the split copays, and ER copay adjustments DO NOT affect the group’s Grandfathered status. Since those plan changes were filed and approved prior to the passage of PPACA, those changes in themselves will not negate the Grandfathered status.

2.) ALL ALTERNATES are considered NON-GRANDFATHERED status. Thus the premiums in the plan alternate pages will not match page two of the renewal packet because the NON-GRANDFATHERED PLANS have Enhanced Preventive Care benefits and the removal of Lifetime limits which account for a marginal premium adjustment (on top of the renewal).

3.) The new highlight sheets have not been approved by the Illinois Department of Insurance (IDOI) yet so revised highlight sheets for the new plans are not available at this time. We will provide you updated addendums/marketing collateral as soon as it is approved by the IDOI.

We wanted to send this email to our brokers in order to clarify BCBSIL’s renewals that were sent out last week.  As always, if you have any questions regarding your renewals, please feel free to contact anyone on our renewal team at 847-598-8306.