Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota is offering about $70 million in discounts and rebates to its customers, it announced Friday.
Thousands of members of Blue Cross' Medicare, individual and family plans and fully insured businesses will receive credits between 10% and 25% of an upcoming bill before the end of the year. Those credits will equal a total discount of over $38 million, the insurer said.
About $22 million of those credits will go to a group of 9,000 businesses throughout Minnesota, while Minnesotans who don't receive their health insurance through an employer will see about $16 million.
In addition, Blue Cross has already sent rebate checks totaling around $31 million to its members who had individual and family insurance plans in 2019. Under the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies must spend at least 80% of their premiums on health care services. Because a significant drop in claims due to the pandemic began all but assured Blue Cross wouldn't hit that number, it issued over 25,000 checks by the end of July.
“We continue to sharpen our focus and look for additional opportunities to be there for our members and employer groups through these dual public health and economic crises. While there is no one solution to address the many challenges and uncertainties we now face, Blue Cross will continue to live by our nonprofit mission of helping our communities be strong, safe and healthy," Blue Cross CEO Dr. Craig Samitt said in a statement.
Insurers have previously taken steps to give back to members like waving cost sharing on their Medicare plans. Blue Cross has already waived cost sharing related to Covid-19 through the end of 2020 and said it will continue to cover telehealth services through at least the end of the year as well.
Eagan-based Blue Cross is Minnesota's largest health plan with 2.9 million members.
