Anthem Blue Cross of California has been in the news many times in the past year. Usually, the news is about something this insurer is doing that isn’t making consumers very happy. Consumer Watchdog has sued Anthem because it says the insurer used “bait and switch” tactics to raise the costs paid by its customers.
Consumer Watchdog has filed a lawsuit against Anthem Blue Cross of California. Consumer Watchdog says that Anthem has used “bait and switch” tactics to raise the deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs that its consumers have to pay.
Consumer Watchdog feels that when Anthem did this to its customers in May of 2011, it violated state law. It violated the law by misrepresenting the cost of coverage for more than 100,000 of its customers.
The insurer is also in trouble for improperly changing its policy renewal periods. It switched from having policies renew annually to monthly. This unfairly allows Anthem Blue Cross to make constant and unexpected changes to the cost, and the coverage, of its health insurance policies. Changes can now happen, without warning, all through the year, instead of just at the annual renewal period.
These type of business practices leave consumers with no protection. Their premiums next month could jump in price from what they were this month. Anthem could continually increase the deductible, and avoid having to pay for any coverage of health care. The information about what types of health care are covered by the insurer one month could be completely different the next month.
These types of tactics would allow Anthem Blue Cross to continually generate a profit. People would go see their doctor, thinking that their deductible was paid, only to learn that the deductible had been raised. People would have been lead to believe that certain types of treatment were covered, and would later learn that they are not, (when the bill for that treatment arrives in the customer’s mailbox).
The definition of the phrase “bait and switch” is: “An illegal tactic in which a seller advertises a product with the intention of persuading customers to purchase a more expensive product. When the seller uses this tactic, they frequently tell the customer that the original product is sold out or no longer available (even if the product is indeed still available), and push hard for the customer to purchase the costlier product.”
This news makes me have a better understanding of why the health insurance policy that my husband and i were approved for by Anthem Blue Cross turned out to be more expensive than we were first lead to believe it would be.
It also explains why the booklet that came with the policy noted that the policy automatically cancels at the end of each month (and implied that if we were late with a payment that we could lose all health insurance coverage). This makes me feel that we did the right thing when we cancelled our health insurance from Anthem Blue Cross of California.
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