New Tonik plans roll out to all states but California and Colorado
October 04, 2010 Mike Rose
On September 23, 2010, every health plan had to be updated to offer new health care reforms and older plans couldn’t be sold. Anthem now has the new plans available in all states but CT and CA. No word on when you can buy Tonik in California or Connecticut.
What Tonik plans are now available for Purchase?
As of October 1, 2010 you can purchase the following plans:
Georgia: Tonik 5000, Tonik 3000, Tonik 1500
New Hampshire: Tonik 5000, Tonik 3000, Tonik 1500
Colorado: Tonik 5000(no other tonik plan will be offered)
Nevada: Tonik 5000 (no other tonik plan will be offered)
Connecticut: TBA
California: TBA
Why the Hold Up in CA and CT
Any changes to any health insurance plans must first be approved by the state insurance commissioner. Until the new Tonik plans are approved, they cannot be offered for sell. If you live in CA and CT and want to be alerted to the plans availability, please contact us.
When can we purchase Tonik in California or Connecticut
No one knows for sure but as of Oct. 1, 2010 no Tonik plans were available for purchase in CA or CT. We do know that only the Tonik 5000 will be available in CA once the new plan is approved. We will keep you posted.
Will Tonik 1500 and Tonik 3000 be offered in California after September 23?
August 27, 2010 Mike Solis
Tonik is changing in most states after September 23, 2010. We are not sure if the Tonik 1500 and 3000 will be available to new members in California in the future. Anthem Blue Cross regularly sends out updates to agents explaining that things will be different after 9/23/2010. If you don’t recall (or if you just have a life) Sept 23rd is the date when insurance companies have to install certain reforms as part of the health reform act recently passed by Congress (the thing called Obama care). Because all these changes are occurring rapidly, the insurance companies are scrambling to make changes to plan to comply with new laws.
This is why you cannot get a quote for a plan with an effective date beyond Sep 23rd. They don’t know exactly what plans will be offered an at what price. We will update this blog as soon as we know.
But we are seeing signs that Anthem is treating the Tonik 5000 differently than the Tonik 1500 and 3000. We know for sure that the 1500 and Tonik 3000 are going away in Colorado and Nevada but we haven’t had word in California. . We will just have to wait and see. If you have your heart set on the tonik health insurance in California with the lower deductibles, our recommendation would be to apply before the September 22. We will keep you posted here if we learn anything new.
Tonik California New Application July 1
June 25, 2010 By: Mike Solis
If you are currently applying to Blue Cross Tonik, make sure you get your application in before July 1, 2010 as a new (longer) application is coming. Anyone trying to access their Tonik CA application on or after July 1 will have to start over from the beginning.
That is basically it in a nutshell. The Tonik application in California is going away for a while. So if you like the cool graphics of the current application, you better log in today to finish your application. Starting the first of next month, Tonik applicants will have to fill out the Anthem Blue Cross application designed for traditional plans. You can go here to apply: http://www.healthapplication.com/tonik
Will this affect other Tonik state applications?
No. We have been told that only Tonik CA will be switching to the traditional format. All other states will have the same Tonik application that you know and love.
Why are they going to change the Tonik Application?
Good question!!! We have been told that the State of California has to approve any changes to an application. Anthem is hoping to add additional questions to all their health applications. Changes to the traditional Anthem health insurance application have been submitted and approved. The current Tonik application has not been submitted for changes so they are moving it over to the new and approved traditional application.
Will the Tonik only application come back to California?
We don’t know but we hope so. The current Tonik application is so clean and simple to fill out that it would be a shame if California individuals could not access it. Hopefully they will submit it for review by the state of California with their new desired changes.
Remind me again, why should I care if the Tonik application is changing on July 1, 2010?
This should only affect Californian’s who want to sign up for Tonik in the near future. If you have started an application and wait until after July 1, you will have to start a whole new application and none of the information that you previously entered will be transferred over to the new application. Additionally the new application adds more questions so it could take a little longer
Tonik California Rate Increase Delayed Again
April 28, 2010 By: Naya Jones
Tonik members in California can breath another sigh of relief as Anthem Blue Cross of California has pushed back the controversial insurance rate high again.
Why the Rate Increase for Tonik?
You may remember that in January 2010 some Tonik members were told their prices were to increase. Anthem Blue Cross said this was due to the increased cost of paying member claims for Tonik and their other health insurance plans. There was a lot of negative feedback regarding the rate increase. Obama and many politicians including Gubernatorial candidate Steve Pozner, claimed that the increased rates were unfair. Anthem agreed to postpone the March rate action until May 2010 to let an independent group review the requested new rates to see if they were justified. Medicoverage sent out an update to our members explaining the Blue Cross rate action. Since then we have been waiting to hear if Anthem would indeed raise health insurance premiums.
Will California Tonik Raise Rates in May 2010?
The short answer is: NOT YET!!!! We haven’t seen the results of the independent analysis so know one knows if the original proposed rate increase will stick. All we know is that for now Tonik members who were slated for March rate hikes will not see prices go up in May as had been previously announced. This time, however, they did not select a date for when rates may go up. This should mean that if they do intend to raise rates in the future, they will have to give members 30 day notice. We will send out emails to all our Tonik members who may be affected by any future rate increase.
If you currently have Tonik and would like to explore alternatives to your current plan, please contact our independent health insurance agentsor visit our health plan quoting tool.
