Blue Shield of California has notified individual policyholders that their coverage could be immediately dropped if they miss a single payment. Blue Shield says in a letter to customers that they can reapply for insurance, but with potentially higher premiums and stricter conditions. This represents a significant change from Blue Shield's former practice of giving customers two special grace periods annually to make up for missed payments without any change to coverage or premiums, reports Los Angeles Times columnist David Lazarus.
