Blue Shield Of California Sues CenCal Health Medicaid Program For Patient Cost Shifting

On July 14, 2016, Blue Shield of California (Blue Shield) sued the Santa Barbara San Luis Obispo Regional Health Authority (CenCal) for enrolling Medicaid beneficiaries into Blue Shield's individual health plans and paying the premiums on their behalf, although the individuals had not had pre-existing Blue Shield plans. Over the past 18 months, CenCal, a County-Organized Health System (COHS) Medi-Cal managed care plan, used its CenCal Health Insurance Premium Payment (HIPP) program to enroll 40 people who qualified for Medicaid into individual Covered California marketplace plans offered by Blue Shield. HIPP is intended to help people . . .