Dive Brief:
- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois (BCBSIL) has teamed with Downers Grove-based Advocate Health Care to offer BlueCare Direct to cost-conscious Illinois individuals, families, and small group customers.
- BCBSIL says the plan will be its lowest-cost offering, featuring both low premiums and low out-of-pocket costs, but prices had not been released as of their Monday announcement.
- The plan, dubbed "the first of its kind in Illinois," will be available both on and off the Get Covered Illinois exchange.
Dive Insight:
The narrow-network plan is poised to fulfill consumer demand for low prices, and it comes from the two biggest players in the state: Advocate is the largest health system in Illinois and BCBSIL is the largest health insurer in Illinois.
As Crain's Chicago Business notes, health exchange consumers have tended to shop by price, so insurers are increasingly relying on narrow networks to keep costs contained. "Enrollees will likely be drawn to the new and cheaper product, which could bring in a new patient base for Advocate and help Blue Cross maintain its grip on the market," Crain's stated.
The BlueCare Direct collaboration builds on a previous relationship in which BCBSIL and Advocate created the nation's largest accountable care organization (ACO) five years ago. "BlueCare Direct is a product that builds on the successes of that collaboration," said Opella Ernest, MD, divisional senior vice president of Health Care Delivery and Chief Medical Officer for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, in a prepared statement.