March 20, 2002 – With new policy changes, V.I. government employees covered by the CIGNA Healthcare plan can now visit their doctors at the same base out-of-pocket cost they paid under the government's previous insurance carrier.
The new CIGNA coverage took effect in the territory last fall, replacing the plan provided by QCC Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Under the old plan, patients visiting the doctor paid $15 per office visit, with insurance otherwise providing 100 percent coverage according to the specified fee schedule. A $15 fee also applied for certain preventative health care procedures including well-child care including immunizations, prostate screenings and well-woman exams.
Just before the Legislature approved the new coverage at the end of the last fiscal year, Paulette Rabsatt, chair of the Government Employees Service Commission's Health Insurance Board, told the lawmakers that doctor's visits and preventative care fees would be the same under CIGNA as with Blue Cross. But when the new insurance plan went into effect, patients had to pay doctors 20 percent of billings for services provided on office visits, plus an annual deductible.
According to a release from Government House on Tuesday, the CIGNA plan has been adjusted so that, again based on the fee schedule, "all office visits are payable by CIGNA Healthcare at 100 percent after the $15 copay. No deductible or 20 percent coinsurance applies." And the same is true for preventive health-care procedures, it said.

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