Is This the Alarming Future of Health Insurance in California?

California’s health insurance marketplace, which is supposed to be enrolling people in Obamacare, seems to be experiencing some major problems.

For some, Covered California only has about four doctors in its network. Only one of those doctors is Board certified and they’re all located in East Oakland, Calif., according to a shocking new report from KPIX-TV.

“Julia Turner is surprised that she even has to search for a doctor. When she signed up for a policy through Covered California late last year, her long-time physician was listed as participating in her Blue Shield plan,” the report states. “When she tried to make an appointment last week, however, he told her he was not accepting patients with her Blue Shield policy, purchased on the Covered California exchange.”

Her attempts to find someone to treat her became frustrating.

“The only doctors accepting new patients are urgent care clinics,” Turner told KPIX-TV.

None of the doctors who could cover her were located near where she lives. Rather, they are all located in the crime-ridden part of Oakland.

“They are in areas of East Oakland that have a lot of violence,” she said.

KPIX-TV contacted all 41 doctors included on the list given to Turner. Only four of the 41 doctors listed were accepting new adult patients. Of the four, only one was board certified.

“The California Department of Managed Health Care said there is no law that requires the insurer’s provider list to be accurate. However, state law does require insurers to have an “adequate” network of doctors. That means there must be at least one doctor for every 1,200 enrollees within 15 miles of their home,” the report said.

“But many enrollees, in both Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans purchased on the exchange said they are struggling to find even one doctor willing to take new patients due to what are now being call “narrow networks,” it added.

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