Florida ACA for use around the country

[oatmeal]

Originally Posted by Freebird2020

Oatmeal, I met with Florida Blue and upgraded my plan last week. I found out that they do not offer Blue Options any longer in my county (Lee).

I ended up going to a Bronze plan (plan #2119) with 0$ deductible and $5000 out of pocket max per person.

Thanks for reporting back.

But I think you may have it reversed--they don't offer Blue Select in Lee County any more (and probably never did). Blue Options is the one that is offered in all 67 counties in Florida, and Blue Select is offered in only about half of the counties in Florida.

According to Florida Blue's website, the plan you got, 2119, is a Blue Options plan. And the out-of-pocket max is $8700 per person, not $5000. Not that any of this would or should change your mind, but you might want to double-check what you have.

http://www.bcbsfl.com/DocumentLibrary/SBC/2022/2119.pdf

And if people are looking for Florida Blue plans, note that in the metal categories on the website, there's "bronze" and "expanded bronze." When I used filters, Plan 2119 didn't show up when I filtered for "bronze" but it did when I filtered for "expanded bronze," even though on the Summary of Coverage it just says "bronze."

Expanded bronze plans offer some pre-deductible benefits, so they're worth investigating in particular, and won't be included if you search only for "bronze" plans.

[Freebird2020]

Oatmeal, you are correct. Sorry for the confusion.

The deductible coverage breakdown came from "my account" on the Florida Blue website. I suspect they haven't updated everything correctly yet and that is my current Gold plan info.

[woodosgood]

We may have found something that will help when searching for "national" plans on healthcare.gov.

In the list of plans in your area, click on the name of the one you are interested in and it will open with more information.

We selected a Florida Blue and a Bright Healthcare. The Florida Blue plan indicates it is an EPO with National Provider Network (red circle). The Bright Healthcare is an EPO with no National Provider Network (blue circle).

Someone on the phone at Florida Blue Cross and Blue Shield said while they do not "own" the healthcare.gov listings, she assured us it was accurate for this plan.

[oatmeal]

Here's something to be aware of when comparing plans for Florida Blue.

In "summary"-type descriptions, including the heading on a given plan, it may say that doctor visits are free, and specialists are a $20 copay or the like. However, in most cases, those copays are only for Value Choice provider, which are located only in Florida. If you're traveling outside Florida, there won't be any Value Choice providers. You have to click on the Summary of Benefits to see what you'll pay for an in-network doctor visit for other than a Value Choice provider.

It's the same even if you click on a few plans and click "COMPARE." The copays in the "primary care" and "specialist" fields more than likely apply only to Value Choice providers. Read the Summary of Benefits to be sure what the copay is for regular old in-network providers.

Also, they have Value Choice urgent care providers, which you won't have access to if you're traveling outside Florida (and maybe even in some parts of Florida--there aren't many of them). Again, read the Summary of Benefits to see what the copay will be for regular old in-network urgent care facilities.

Here's a description and list of Value Choice providers.

https://welcometoyourplan.floridablu...0a5a102d51.pdf

Edited to Add: Again, read the Summary of Benefits. I'm using healthsherpa.com and in the list of plans, there's #1737S, and it says doctor visits are "free." Then I clicked on that one and some others to compare them and on the page that has them all side by side, the heading for 1737S says "$40 PCP visits." So that doesn't match. And then in the grid below that plan on the "compare" page, it says "free." If you read the Summary of Benefits, you'll see that the "free" visits are for Value Choice providers, but in-network primary care visits are $40. Ill say it again: Read the Summary of Benefits.