Anyone else confused about PPO,EPO,HMO?

[Fermion]

Sitting down to look at our 2017 options, I see that Premera Blue Cross in Washington state has eliminated our old plan and the new plan seems to be some form of EPO/HMO hybrid where before it was sort of a PPO/EPO hybrid with access to the nationwide BCBS network.

Not only that, but they raised the premium from $750 to $1000.

I am looking now at PPO plans and see Regence Blue Shield has some but they seem to be a small network around our county. When you go to their site though, you can select the national blue card network with providers around the country. I tried to call them to find out if the PPO allows access to this blue card network but they seemed to think the EPO did but the PPO was out of network. They said the PPO had the better options. Really got the impression they did not know anything at all.

Dart board time?

 

[MBSC]

The following is on page 8 of this 2017 Regence plan brochure.

"As a Regence member, you can also access the BlueCard® Program, which lets you enjoy your highest level of benefits when you see a Blue Cross and/or Blue Shield Plan provider outside our service area. You’ll find BlueCard providers across the United States and in 200 countries around the world.(Not available on the Washington Health Exchange.)"

Link: http://exchange.ehealthinsurance.co...Regence_Blue_Shield-1477443370000-10.2016.pdf

With the BCBS plan in my state, the small network applies in-state (their service area) and the BlueCard network applies out of state.

 

[Fermion]

Yes I think they .... us this year on the Washington exchange and we no longer have access to any provider with a reasonable nationwide network at any cost.

Oh well.

 

[broadway]

Yes I think they .... us this year on the Washington exchange and we no longer have access to any provider with a reasonable nationwide network at any cost.

Oh well.

I haven't had any nationwide network option with any of the Silver plans available on healthcare.gov last year, this year, or next.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of NJ went as far as to create an even smaller network with their Omnia plans that started this year. Ugh.

 

[GTFan]

I'm not confused at all, my choices next year are HMO and HMO. Tons of others only have HMO.

 

[wmc1000]

My choices were HMO or EPO - went with EPO so we don't have to get approval from PCP to see specialists on EPO plan