Innovative and Affordable Benefit Designs
Categories: Foster Public-Private Coverage Solutions
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana (BCBSLA) has created innovative, affordable products and services that give Louisianians a wide range of solutions to fit their needs – and their budgets. Two examples are its value-priced individual plans, Blue Value and BlueSense, and its highly successful and popular high-deductible health plan, BlueSaver.
BlueValue
BCBSLA’s Blue Value product provides coverage for large, unplanned medical expenses such as hospital stays and surgery, with lifetime protection of $5 million. A discount prescription drug program is also available through participating pharmacies or mail order. After members meet their deductible, covered expenses are paid at 80 percent of the allowable charge for care received from PPO physicians and hospitals. Covered expenses are paid at 60 percent of the allowable charge for care received outside the network. Blue Value also covers preventive and wellness care and features discounts on dental, vision and hearing services. To learn more, please click here.
BlueSense
BCBSLA’s BlueSense product offers “Smart coverage. Sensible solutions” by adding four special options to the company’s comprehensive Blue Max individual coverage plan. These benefit designs offer a variety of deductibles and a choice of copayment options that can make premiums more affordable. Other features include prescription drug coverage, wellness and preventive care, a maternity option, lifetime protection of $5 million and access to the plan’s extensive network of doctors and hospitals. To learn more, please click here.
BlueSaver
First launched in 1997 with benefits designed to accompany a medical savings account (MSA), BlueSaver is one of BCBSLA’s success stories. The product began to take off in 2000, but after Health Savings Account (HSA) legislation was passed, beginning Jan. 1, 2004, Blue Cross began marketing BlueSaver with HSA-compatible benefits. In November 2004, the company withdrew the MSA benefits model and transitioned the business to the HSA model. In the next four years, BlueSaver enjoyed a compounded annual growth rate of 82 percent.
In September 2004, the individual BlueSaver product eclipsed and surpassed the company’s Blue Max product, its traditional + PPO individual product that had been its No. 1 seller for more than a decade. As of January 2009, BlueSaver individual membership tallied 70,541 and group BlueSaver membership was 70,575, making total BlueSaver membership 141,116. Never in the company’s 75-year history has it witnessed such a dramatic marketplace acceptance of a product. To learn more about BlueSaver, please click here.
MySmart$aver
MySmart$aver from The Bancorp Bank is BCBSLA's seamless, integrated HSA solution for BlueSaver members. When a customer enrolls in BlueSaver, he or she can choose to open a MySmart$aver HSA account at the same time. As of February 2009, more than 17,395 Blue Cross customers had opened MySmart$aver HSA accounts.
