Health Net Offers ‘Cross Border’ Coverage for Immigrant Workers
Health Net
announced on Oct. 25 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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