Four months after the contract between Scripps Health and Anthem Blue Cross lapsed, forcing an estimated 125,000 San Diego County residents to consider changing their coverage or finding different doctors, the medical provider announced Tuesday afternoon that the previous relationship has been restored.
Scripps notified patients by email that those with Anthem Blue Cross health insurance coverage can immediately resume making appointments with its approximately 3,000 affiliated doctors and using its network of hospitals and medical offices throughout the region.
In the fall of 2024, Scripps notified patients that the contract with Anthem might not be renewed, citing disagreement with the carrier over reimbursement rates and what the provider said were burdensome requirements for prior approval of billable medical procedures.
Richard Neale, a corporate executive vice president and Scripps’ chief growth officer, said Tuesday afternoon that the new agreement with Anthem simply extends the terms of the previous contract through Sept. 30, 2026.
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Disagreements over reimbursement and prior medical approval remain unresolved.
“This is an extension, it is not a new agreement,” Neale said. “So, in a long-term sustainable agreement … those two priorities, which are really breaking down the barriers that interfere with the patient’s ability to get the care that their physician is recommending and to ensure that Scripps gets fair payment, those will be the focal points … that we will be focused on negotiating during the extension period.”
Little information was available on just how many of the more than 125,000 local Anthem beneficiaries stayed with the carrier, hoping for a quick resolution and how many decided to choose a different carrier during the annual open enrollment period, which usually occurs in the fall.
Anthem did not provide information on how many changed carriers or how many health management organization beneficiaries it switched to different local medical providers when Scripps went out of network on Jan. 1.
“We are pleased Scripps Health has rejoined our local network of care providers in San Diego and we look forward to continuing our partnership,” said Beth Andersen, president of Anthem Commercial Health Plans in California, in a statement. “Our members and employer customers remained our number one priority as we worked hard and in good faith to find common ground and reach agreement with Scripps.”
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The news came as a relief to many patients Tuesday.
Ron Stolberg of Rancho Penasquitos said that he left Scripps for Sharp HealthCare while his wife tried to stay with Scripps as much as was possible, though some tests needed in the past four months went to Sharp.
“I think it’s great news for those of us that value our history with Scripps, but for many of us, we have gone on and made new relationships with health care providers in other systems,” Stolberg said. “If this was going to get worked out, it would have been great to do it before over 100,000 consumers stressed other health care systems.
“It’s hard to know what to do now, be faithful to a new provider who took us in, or the one we know better but dismissed us over a contract dispute.”
While he said he is on the fence, he said his wife plans to return to Scripps as soon as possible.
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Why not extend the contract last year rather than waiting for four months? Neale said that an extension was not on the table.
“We had actually recommended or proposed to Anthem at that time to extend the terms of the existing agreement to negotiate that long-term agreement,” Neale said. “At that time, they turned us down.”
It does not appear that Scripps suffered much financially during the short-lived Anthem divorce. Revenue from third-party payors, for the most part commercial health insurance companies, actually increased slightly in the first three months of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, according to quarterly financial reports filed with the state. Scripps confirmed the trend in an email Tuesday.
Neale said that patients with preferred provider or exclusive provider organization insurance, which allows beneficiaries to self-refer to any doctor in their network, immediately gain access, while those with health management organization coverage must go through Anthem.
“For EPO or PPO members, they can call (Scripps) today to get an appointment,” Neale said. “HMO members, they need to call Anthem to seek reassignment to a Scripps provider.”
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The new contract does not include Anthem plans on the Covered California health insurance exchange. Neale declined to elaborate on why these plans will not regain Scripps in their provider networks. The executive did say that there were about 14,000 Scripps patients in Covered California Anthem plans at the end of 2024, though some may have switched health insurance companies during annual open enrollment in the fall and early winter of 2024 to retain access to Scripps.
Two labor unions and a child care advocacy group on Friday filed a proposed countywide sales-tax hike they’ve dubbed the Protect San Diego County’s Health & Safety Act with the county Registrar of Voters in hopes of making the November 2026 ballot.
The proposed half-cent sales tax measure – which would raise a projected $360 million annually – aims to fund health care, child care, solutions to the Tijuana River sewage crisis and public safety.
The Service Employees International Union Local 221, child care advocacy group Children First San Diego and Cal Fire Local 2881 expect to start collecting signatures next month.
“We’re taking urgent action on the biggest health and safety threats San Diego County is facing – Tijuana River toxic sewage, strained 911 response, working families losing healthcare, childcare, and even the basic food they need to survive,” SEIU 221 President Crystal Irving wrote in a statement. “Our coalition is determined to give voters the power to choose a safer, healthier future and starting soon we’ll be out in every community gathering signatures and working with neighbors to protect San Diego County families.”
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Proposed ballot language submitted to the Registrar of Voters Friday describes a slew of causes that proponents aim to support with a half-cent sales-tax increase. Up to 60 percent of funding – the equivalent of $261 million annually – could back child care and health services for children, health care for uninsured or underinsured people, food aid including staffing for CalFresh eligibility workers in the county, in-home health services and affordable health care.
Nearly 23 percent – or roughly $81 million annually – would go toward combating the Tijuana sewage crisis, with at least 20 percent of this share of funds directed toward infrastructure projects to “stop sewage flows from Tijuana into the United States or through the Tijuana River Valley.” The measure says the funding could also address related health issues and protect local waters from pollution.
Nearly 18 percent – or almost $63 million annually – could back public safety services, wildfire prevention and crisis response.
Proponents also capped administrative costs at 1.5 percent, or about $5 million annually.
The proposed measure also calls for an 11-member citizens oversight committee to conduct annual audits and bars spending on politicians’ salaries, lobbyist contracts or government office renovations.
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The citizen-backed effort is separate from the subcommittee work that county Board Chair Terra Lawson-Remer and Vice Chair Monica Montgomery Steppe are queuing up to hash out ways the county might bring in. The county faces an estimated $300 million annual budget hit tied to federal cuts. The county is set to hire and pay consultants up to $500,000 as part of that effort to conduct polling and research on potential measures to raise taxes and other possible ways to increase revenues that may require changes to other policies.
In a Friday statement, Lawson-Remer lauded the proposed citizen measure.
“This San Diego County Health & Safety citizens initiative offers a key tool that voters could choose to support in order to defend our community and our values: to keep our water clean, to keep our hospitals open, and to make sure firefighters and first responders have the resources they need when the next wildfire hits,” Lawson-Remer wrote. “When Washington walks away, our community refuses to look the other way.”
The decision to proceed with a citizens’ measure doesn’t rule out a potential future measure pushed by county supervisors. Yet Lawson-Remer’s quick endorsement shows she’s eager to see a citizens’ group push a measure forward that only requires a simple majority for a ballot victory.
The coalition behind it will face an uphill battle to persuade skeptical voters already facing an avalanche of rising costs – and to get on the ballot in the first place.
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Courtney Baltiyskyy of Children First San Diego said the coalition expects to hit the streets in January to try to collect at least 140,000 signatures. They’ll need to deliver at least 102,923 valid signatures to get on next November’s ballot.
The county coalition also expects to have some competition next November.
The coalition that includes Laborers Local Union 89, Carpenters Union Local 619, and Rebuild SoCal are rallying behind a one-cent sales tax hike for city of San Diego for infrastructure repairs, wildfire prevention, pipe repairs for clean water and more.
Both coalitions have recently circulated polls testing voters’ appetite for separate city and county measures and shared some intel.
Their intel-sharing follows the November 2024 demise of Measures E and G, separate city and countywide sales-tax proposals. San Diego politicos are skeptical voters would support two sales-tax hikes.
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The results of an initial poll of city voters conducted around Labor Day on the city measure suggested both city and county measures suggested a challenging climate for proposed tax increases.
Results obtained by Voice of San Diego show 57 percent of the 776 voters polled said they thought the county was on the wrong track and 60 percent said the same of the city.
Baltiyskyy said Friday the countywide coalition believes it has a path to victory – and that support for it will grow as voters and local organizations learn more.
Four suspects were behind bars Friday for allegedly beating a man to death two months ago during a fight at Linda Vista Park.
Arrested Wednesday on suspicion of murder in connection with the violent death of 59-year-old Ruben Rimorin were Juan Garcia Alavez, 21, Juan Manuel Lopez, 26, Brian Reyes, 20, and Franklin Joseph Tuell, 21, according to the San Diego Police Department.
Rimorin was found gravely injured about 3:45 a.m. Oct. 18 on a sidewalk in the 6800 block of Osler Street, just west of the park, SDPD Lt. Chris Tivanian said. Paramedics tried in vain to revive the victim before pronouncing him dead at the scene.
It remains unclear what sparked the deadly fight.
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The suspects were being held at San Diego Central Jail without bail pending arraignment, scheduled for Friday afternoon.
National City’s Pepper Park can soon expand in size by nearly 50%, thanks to a ruling this week by the California Coastal Commission to approve the National City Balanced Plan.
The approval of the plan at the CCC’s Wednesday meeting, developed by the Port of San Diego, means that not only will the popular park have the ability to increase in size, big changes are coming for commercial, recreation and maritime uses on the National City bayfront.
“We are grateful to the California Coastal Commission for its support of the National City Balanced Plan,” said Danielle Moore, chair of the Board of Port Commissioners. “The progress we have made has been anchored in tireless collaboration with the community, business leaders and, of course, the city of National City. It’s about bringing more recreational opportunities to the bayfront while also streamlining and strengthening maritime operations, and we are eager to bring these projects to life.”
Other components of the balanced plan include:
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Realigning Marina Way to serve as the buffer area between commercial recreation and maritime uses
The closure of Tidelands Avenue between Bay Marina Drive and West 32nd Street, and West 28th Street between Tidelands Avenue and Quay Avenue, around six acres, to increase terminal efficiency by eliminating redundancies
The development of a recreational vehicle park, tent sites, cabins and the “ultimate development of up to two hotels with up to 365 rooms, as well as dry boat storage,” a port statement read
A connector rail project to connect the existing rail and loop track located on the National City Marine Terminal to additional rail car storage spots at the existing Burlington Northern Santa Fe National City Yard east of the National Distribution Center
The Board of Port Commissioners must accept the CCC’s certification, then the port and city can begin the process of completing the above projects.
“I am proud of the work we have done to help create a lasting legacy for National City, the Port of San Diego, and the entire region,” said Port Commissioner GilAnthony Ungab. “Nearly a decade in the making, this plan balances the interests of the community and many other stakeholders, addresses public access, maritime, and recreation uses, and expands waterfront access in my community.”
The National City Bayfront is 273 acres of waterfront land and 167 acres of water, and includes the National City Marine Terminal, Pepper Park, Pier 32 Marina, the Aquatic Center and pieces of public art.
