Health Net California Health Insurance
Health Net is a wholly owned subsidiary of Centene, Corporation, which is based in St. Louis, Missouri. In California, Health Net is focused on providing medical insurance to individuals and families, seniors (Medicare age 65 +) and people in low-income plans (Medi-Cal). Health Net offers coverage to employers of small businesses. However, their prices have not been very competitive in recent years.
Health Net offers a full range of HMO, PPO, and HSA small group plans of all metal tiers: Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze. Platinum plans have the best benefits but also have the highest premiums. The benefits and premiums decrease with each metal tier, with Bronze being the lowest.
Health Net also offers HSP plans which are very narrow network plans that require members to access care exclusively through the “PureCare” network of physicians and hospitals. HSP plan members can use any Health Net provider for ancillary, pharmacy and behavioral health.
You can visit the following Benefits Cafe pages for more information about HMO, PPO, and HSA plans:
Strengths
Health Net offers a wide selection of plans and provider networks. They offer a variety of HMO and PPO plans that range in size from very small to very large networks. Their PPO Value plans seem to be well priced. However, you should be aware that the value PPO plans apply the full medical deductible to both prescription medicine and medical expenses. If that’s not a problem, then the PPO value plans may work well for your company.
Challenges
Non-Competitive Pricing: The bottom line is that, despite the huge number of plan and network choices, the prices of most of the Health Net plans are not competitive when compared to other insurance companies. Hopefully, Health Net will simplify their plan offerings and reduce their plan premiums (monthly price). Everyone would love to have Health Net be a competitive option for small employers.
Pricing and Employer Strategy
Health Net’s Salud Y Mas HMO plan is well-priced and geared towards Spanish speakers. This HMO plan has a very narrow network of providers who are only available in certain parts of Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, and San Diego counties. If most of your employees speak Spanish and your business is located within these counties, this may be a viable option for your company.
Health Net California medical plans are becoming more competitive. Their Value PPO plan may be a good fit if you’re looking for affordable PPO coverage. You should include Health Net plans in your survey of alternatives. Benefits Cafe can help set up your small business with Health Net insurance plans for your employees. Give us a call at 800-746-0045 and we can prepare quotes to show you the plans that work best for you.
(800) 746-0045