The vast majority of Blue California’s customers say they would recommend it to friends and family and just about all those polled said they’d renew their policies. It’s No. 12 on Insure.com’s 2024 Best Health Insurance Companies list – earning 3.7 stars out of 5.
Insurance expert Mel Duvall is an award-winning business journalist with a background in covering insurance, banking and personal finance. His work has appeared in leading publications such as The Financial Post, American Banker and Baseline Magazine.
John McCormick is an insurance expert and the editorial director for QuinStreet's insurance sites -- CarInsurance.com, Insurance.com and Insure.com. Before joining QuinStreet, he was a deputy editor at The Wall Street Journal and was an editor and reporter at several media outlets where he covered insurance, personal finance and technology.
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Blue Shield of California gets good marks as an all-around health insurance provider. Its customers say they would highly recommend it to others and 94% said they’ll renew their policies with the insurer.
Blue Shield of California came in No. 12 on our Best Health Insurance Companies for 2024 list, earning 3.7 stars (actually, 3.65) out of 5.
Of course, Blue Shield of California is largely limited to residents of the Golden State.
Below is Insure.com’s review of the company. It’s based on third-party metrics and our in-depth survey of insurance customers. Find the full methodology here, including an explanation of our survey scores.
Several companies on our list ranked higher than Blue Shield of California for affordability. Kaiser Permanente led this category with 4.3 stars. However, the company offers competitive rates when looking at specific plans (see below).
Below is a look at how Blue Shield of California rates in the Golden State compare with Kaiser Permanente and Centene for similar plans. These are 2024 healthcare exchange rates for a single, 40-year-old male in excellent health with an annual income of $70,000.
Our survey found that 71% of Blue Shield of California customers give it high marks for customer satisfaction. Several other companies did better here, including Kaiser Permanente, which led this category. However, it was in the middle of the pack when looking at average J.D. Power 2023 U.S. Commercial Member Health Plan Study scores for California – the regional average is 723. J.D. Power measures health plans for overall customer satisfaction.
Seven in 10 customers gave Blue Shield of California high marks for policy offerings. Blue Shield of California offers a wide range of policies for individuals, families, and employers. It also offers programs covering vision and dental care and offers life insurance. BCBS of Michigan led this category.
Most Blue Shield of California customers – 94% – would recommend the insurer to others. That’s a better score than most of the insurers in our ranking, but not as good as BCBS of Michigan – all the BCBS of Michigan customers we surveyed said they recommend it.
The majority of customers, 74%, say Blue Shield of California has earned their trust. But a number of insurers did better. Kaiser Permanente led the survey with 86% of its customers saying they trusted it.
Yes, they do. When customers were asked if they planned to renew with Blue Shield of California, 94% said they would – the fifth-highest score in this category. BCBS led this category.
Only 17% of its customers gave the company a high score here. But it should be noted that most insurers didn’t do well in this category.
The company didn’t score particularly well here, but then no company did. Aetna, Cigna and HCSC tied for the lead in this category. A deductible is the out-of-pocket money you have to pay for health services before your insurer begins to pay.
A healthcare provider network is a group of doctors, specialists and hospitals that provide services to insured members at a lower cost than providers outside the network. A strong provider network can be a key consideration when shopping for a health plan. Blue Shield of California had the fifth-highest score in this category. But none of the companies in our ranking did especially well. Molina led this category.
Note: Coverage is offered to people living in California and employees of some California-based companies with offices in other states. Members who carry the “Blue Card” also have access to care outside of California.
Blue Shield of California was founded in 1939 by the California Medical Association. By 1940, more than 20,000 Californians had subscribed, and some 5,000 physicians joined the healthcare service plan
Blue Shield of California became one of the founders of the National Association of Blue Shield plans in 1946, which was later renamed the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.
Today, Blue Shield of California has about 4.8 million members.
It has a strong reputation for investing back into the community through its Corporate Citizenship Program and Blue Shield of California Foundation.
Sources:
Blue Shield of California website. Accessed February 2024.
Insure.com in the fall of 2023 surveyed more than 1,750 insurance consumers (1,151 people with home insurance). The survey was conducted by online market research company Slice MR.
Respondents were asked to name their home insurer and then grade it in the following categories: customer satisfaction, ease of service, claims satisfaction and policy offerings. The percentage of respondents who said they were satisfied or very satisfied with their insurer is presented in the results.
Respondents were then asked to pick their insurer’s top three attributes out of more than a dozen presented – including digital experience, discounts best for auto/home bundling and best for discounts. The number of responses for each attribute were totaled before dividing by the number of each company’s customers who responded to that survey question to create a percentage.
Respondents were then asked if they would recommend their home insurer to someone else and if they planned to renew their policies. The percentage who said yes is presented in the results.
Finally, respondents were given the statement “I trust my insurance company” and asked if they strongly agreed, agreed, disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement. The percentage of those who said they agreed or strongly agreed is presented in the results.
The editors compiled the survey results and then selected – based on the number of survey responses – the top companies for further evaluation.
They then collected AM Best data, which measure financial strength, and National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ complaint data, which ranks a company by the number of customer complaints it receives. The Insure.com team identified the NAIC company code or codes that were the primary underwriting companies for each carrier and line of business using total annual premiums. The associated NAIC complaint index score was used in the calculations. If more than one underwriting company was identified for a line, the editors used a weighted average of the NAIC complaint index scores.
They also collected insurance rate data from Quadrant Information Services.
With the help of Prof. David Marlett, Ph.D., Managing Director of the Brantley Risk and Insurance Center at Appalachian State University, the editors created a rating system to determine which insurance companies were best in each sector. For home insurers, we took the following and gave each a weight.
Each insurer was awarded between half a star and 5 stars. No company in the ranking received less than half a star in any category, and 5 stars was the most any insurer could receive.