Blue Cross Blue Shield Health Insurance Review 2024 (2024)

• Key Takeaways
• About Blue Cross Blue Shield
• Types of Health Insurance Offered by Blue Cross Blue Shield
• Blue Cross Blue Shield Plans
• Names of Blue Cross Blue Shield Health Insurance Companies
• Blue Cross Blue Shield Health Insurance Available in All States on the ACA Marketplace
• Member Benefits from Blue Cross Blue Shield
• How Much Do Blue Cross Blue Shield Health Insurance Plans Cost?
• How Blue Cross Blue Shield Costs Compare to Other Companies
• Blue Cross Blue Shield Reviews and Complaints
• Compare The Best Health Insurance Companies
• Methodology

Blue Cross Blue Shield is made up of 34 independent and locally operated health insurance companies.

Blue Cross Blue Shield insurers comprise a large portion of health plans on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace at HealthCare.gov, where you can compare plans when you don’t have access to workplace health insurance. Blue Cross Blue Shield’s plans include preferred provider organization (PPO) plans, which aren’t as common in the marketplace as health maintenance organization (HMO) and exclusive provider organization (EPO) plans.

Members of certain Blue Cross Blue Shield plans can join Blue365 for free health and wellness discounts. There are discounts for fitness products, such as Fitbit. There’s also price breaks for Target Optical and meal boxes from Freshly.

Blue Cross Blue Shield offers both group health insurance through employers and individual health insurance. It also provides Medicare Advantage plans.

GeoBlue, a licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, provides health insurance coverage for people who travel internationally and for Americans who are living abroad.

Blue Cross Blue Shield offers three types of plans on the ACA health insurance marketplace:

• HMO: Health maintenance organization (HMO) plans typically only cover in-network care by network providers. HMOs also generally require members to name a primary care provider to oversee care and get referrals to see specialists.
• EPO: Exclusive provider organization (EPO) plans generally require members to get in-network care, but unlike HMOs, an EPO doesn’t usually demand a referral to see a specialist.
• PPO: Preferred provider organization (PPO) plans offer more flexibility but that comes at a higher health insurance premium than HMOs and EPOs. PPOs allow members to get out-of-network care. Out-of-network care costs more than getting care by in-network providers. PPOs also don’t require referrals to see specialists.

Health plans are offered by different Blue Cross Blue Shield companies in each state. Some states even have more than one Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Blue Cross Blue Shield plans often provide benefits, such as:

• Blue Cross Blue Shield says that 100% of hospitals and 99% of physicians accept coverage. You can also use coverage when traveling to Canada and Mexico.
• MyBlue, an online account for members to view their coverage, find in-network doctors, track and manage claims, and submit fitness and weight-loss reimbursem*nts.
• Blue365 allows you to get member discounts on health and wellness, fitness, financial health, personal care and lifestyle services.
• Members may have access to ThriveWell, a digital health and wellbeing program.
• 24/7 nurse call line, which can answer general health questions or help with chronic conditions.

Blue Cross Blue Shield health insurance costs an average of $506 a month for a 30-year-old with an ACA marketplace plan. That cost typically increases with age.

Besides age, other factors that influence ACA plan costs include the type of plan, metal tier, where you live and smoking status. You may also qualify for premium tax credits, which can reduce the cost for marketplace plans. Households with income between 100% and 400% of the federal poverty level are eligible for the tax credits. The ACA marketplace plans are the only ones eligible for that cost-saving program.

Average Blue Cross Blue Shield Health Insurance Cost by Age

ACA marketplaces plans are divided by metal tier: bronze, silver, gold and platinum based on costs. Bronze and silver plans have the lowest premiums but the most out-of-pocket costs when you need healthcare. Platinum and gold have higher premiums but fewer out-of-pocket costs.

Bronze and silver plans are the most common type of plan, while platinum plans are fairly rare.

Average Costs for Blue Cross Blue Shield by Metal Plan

Health insurance costs vary by company and there are so many different types of Blue Cross Blue Shield insurers that there can be wide variations in costs for those plans.

Overall, average Blue Cross Blue Shield costs are higher than top competitors, but check with your local Blue Cross plan to see what that specific company charges.

Average Monthly Costs for ACA Marketplace Plan by Company

HMOs: Average Monthly Health Insurance Costs

EPOs: Average Monthly Health Insurance Costs

PPOs: Average Monthly Health Insurance Costs

Complaints filed with state insurance departments against Blue Cross Blue Shield for individual health insurance are a bit higher than the industry average, but lower than some competitors.

Other ratings for Blue Cross Blue Shield include:

• Average National Committee for Quality Assurance rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
• AM Best financial strength: A (Excellent)

Blue Cross Blue Shield received the second best average NCQA marks among the companies we analyzed (tied with UnitedHealthcare and behind only Kaiser Permanente). The insurer received its highest marks for prevention and treatment, but patient experience was not as strong.

AM Best affirmed its A (Excellent) Financial Strength Rating for Elevance, which is the largest Blue Cross insurance company. Elevance subsidiaries include Anthem Blue Cross plans, which are offered in 14 states. In affirming the rating, AM Best praised the company’s “strong operating performance, favorable business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management.”

We used the following data to determine the best health insurance companies.

• Complaints made to state insurance departments (30% of score): We used complaint data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
• Plan ratings from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (30% of score): The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) is an independent, nonprofit organization that accredits health plans and produces ratings based on specific metrics, including patient experience, prevention, treatment, overall rating of the health plan and rating of care. We collected ratings for each company’s rated plans and devised an average for the company.
• Average silver plan deductible (20% of score): The deductible is how much you have to pay for healthcare in a year before the health plan begins picking up a portion of the costs. Companies with health plans that had low deductibles got more points. Source: HealthCare.gov.
• Breadth of health plans (10% of score): Health insurance companies may offer up to four types of plan benefit designs (PPO, HMO, EPO and POS). We gave companies that offered more types of plans more points. Source: HealthCare.gov.
• Metal tier offerings (10% of score): The ACA marketplace has four metal tier levels. We gave points to companies that offered more tier plan options. Source: HealthCare.gov.

Read more: How Forbes Advisor rates health insurance companies

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