New BCBSA Plan Product Prioritizes Labor Union Health Insurance

CareFirst of Maryland, Inc (CareFirst) and Highmark, Inc (Highmark) have partnered to offer a new product to eligible members that prioritizes affordable, high-quality labor union health insurance. 

Both payers are independent licensees of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Administration (BCBSA) and serve around 10 million members across several states.

Highmark, which is the fourth-largest Blue Cross Blue Shield-affiliated organization, provides coverage to members in Pennsylvania, Delaware, West Virginia, and Western and Northeastern New York. Not-for-profit company CareFirst serves Maryland, Northern Virginia, and Washington, DC.

The new service, Union Blue, will focus on individuals and families in labor unions, catering to CareFirst and Highmark’s existing union member population.

The benefit will offer a high-touch service center to provide members with individualized, understandable health insurance support from service representatives and registered nurses, according to the press release.

Union Blue will also leverage data analytics to help CareFirst and Highmark anticipate and understand their members’ needs, manage their healthcare, and improve their health outcomes. An integrated data platform will ensure members receive comprehensive and consistent coordinated care.

“The communities we serve are home to so many labor unions and union members,” Brian Pieninck, president and chief executive officer of CareFirst, stated in the press release. “Together, our 360 degree approach and service expertise with the labor population will ensure we meet individuals wherever they are on the health continuum.”

Pieninck emphasized that the product can be tailored to meet individual needs yet remains simple to navigate.

The new payer product is unique in the way that it targets labor union healthcare and healthcare coverage and will aim to address union members’ specific needs. CareFirst and Highmark will provide their members with access to more than 1.7 million BCBSA providers through Union Blue.

“We’ve built a robust foundation of service and member experience for Union Blue to identify and manage a range of individual health conditions across a diverse population. As a result, we’re enabling multiple touchpoints for members to help lead to positive health outcomes,” Deborah Rice-Johnson, president and chief growth officer of Highmark, said in the press release.

Union Blue will be available to labor union members starting in 2022.

Highmark has taken steps in the past to personalize healthcare for its members. In December 2020, the payer expanded its partnership with an end-to-end substance abuse care vendor to increase access to tailored substance abuse treatment options for Pennsylvanians.

The program used a personalized approach, delivering coordinated care services and peer support to help keep members in treatment. Highmark employed data analytics in this program as well in order to help identify at-risk members and manage care costs.

CareFirst and Highmark also worked to prioritize members’ financial needs during the coronavirus pandemic. Both payers waived copayments and cost-sharing for coronavirus hospital treatment. Highmark specifically waived deductibles and copays for telehealth services, as well.

In 2020, CareFirst invested $27.8 million in its health plan to increase access to affordable, quality healthcare for its members in every market, the press release noted. Highmark and its health plans also continually strive to provide high-quality, accessible care to its members while aiming to improve health outcomes.

Labor unions have been a driving force behind health insurance innovation in the past, according to a Commonwealth Fund report. 

Union members are 92 percent more likely than non-union members to have health insurance benefits. At times, union health insurance benefits are so rich that they attract Americans into lower-wage jobs in order to participate in the union.

Unions have been known to bargain for better benefits and have partnered with payers, employers, providers, and other stakeholders to lower healthcare spending.