IMMIGRANT WORKERS: Health Net Offers ‘Cross Border’ Coverage
Health Net yesterday announced that it will team up with Sistemas Medicos Nacionales, a Mexican HMO, to provide " cross-border" health coverage both in the United States and Mexico for the "largely uninsured" Mexican migrant working population in California, the Orange County Register reports. Designed for workers residing in California but who have family members living in Mexico, or for those who often travel across the border, the plans will permit employees and their dependents to choose a physician and hospital in California and three Mexican border cities -- Tijuana, Mexicali and Tecate. Although the HMO plans will require regulatory approval, PPOs and exclusive provider organizations will be available on Jan. 1. Large employers, those with over 51 employees, will be able to purchase the health plans throughout the state, while plan availability to smaller employers will be temporarily limited to Los Angeles County. Tenet Healthcare Corp. and Medico Hispano, a network of Spanish-speaking physicians in Los Angeles, will join Health Net's partnership. Blue Shield of California began a "cross-border" health plan for Tijuana residents working in California in August, and has thus far signed up two employers (Wolfson, Orange County Register, 10/25).
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