Blue Shield announced today that the company has reached an agreement on a two year extension of its contract with Sutter Health, including the Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF). This agreement, whose terms are not  public, protects both carrier and clients according to Blue Shield.

Sutter Health and the Palo Alto Medical Foundation are major players in the Northern California health care scene. In some  counties, including Santa Cruz, Blue Shield will be the only carrier whose network of providers for individual policies includes Sutter and PAMF, in contrast with 2014 in which these providers contracted with both Health Net and Blue Shield. Patients who had already moved from their Health Net policies to Blue Shield effective January 1, 2015 in order to keep their providers were facing the possibility of having to find new doctors anyway. News of the agreement will be welcomed.

The lack of a contract between Blue Shield and Sutter Health/PAMF affected both individual and group members of the plan.

Open Enrollment for individual and family health insurance continues through February 15, 2015. Contact us today for a free consultation and help enrolling in a plan to meet your needs.