Thank you so much to local publication Santa Barbara Independent for reaching out to us and asking our fearless leader David Peters to offer comment on the current state of Individual Healthcare here in Santa Barbara! Excerpt follows, & to read the entire article, click the button below to be redirected to Santa Barbara Independent's Website:
"...Insurance broker David Peters termed the Sansum–Blue Shield agreement “huge,” adding, “It felt like a deal that had to happen, but then I’ve seen lots of deals ‘that had to happen’ not happen.” Peters said he has 600 families he now has to transfer from Blue Cross to Blue Shield by December 15. To date, he said, he’s managed to get 67 transferred. To get the rest switched before their coverage temporarily lapses, he said, would be a “logistical impossibility.” To make the deal work, he added, Blue Shield cut the commission that brokers would otherwise have received by 60 percent.
Peters said a handful of other brokers have already asked him to take over their clients. Roger Perry, another well-known broker, said he doesn’t expect any hitches in transferring clients from Anthem to Blue Shield, but he did say prices are going up. One woman with a 2-year-old child, he said, will have to pay 33 percent more to get her child covered by Blue Shield. On average, Perry said, the rates will go up by 10 to 12 percent."