Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas Collaborates With Five Blue Plans to Increase...

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas Collaborates With Five Blue Plans to
Increase Transparency, Expand Access to Health Care Cost Information
Blue plans in Florida, Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas to launch
online Care Comparison tool for members; Care Comparison selected as standard
methodology for Blue Plans.

RICHARDSON, Texas, July 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas
(BCBSTX) joined other Blue Plans today to announce plans to collaborate to
provide access to an online, consumer-friendly health care cost information
tool, developed by WellPoint, which is called "Care Comparison." With
expansion of this easy-to-access, online tool, more than 48 million American
consumers will have access to valuable cost information which will help plan
members increase their knowledge as consumers of health care, and identify
ways to spend their health care dollars more wisely.

"Blue Cross collaborated with WellPoint, Inc. (NYSE: WLP) (the nation's
largest health benefits company by medical membership), Blue Cross Blue Shield
of Florida and Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC operates Blue Cross and
Blue Shield plans in Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas), to provide
access to this cost transparency tool," says Darren Rodgers, president, Blue
Cross and Blue Shield of Texas. "We are pleased to have reached our goal of
creating opportunities for an even greater number of members to have easy
access to clear, concise health cost information in major cities nationwide,
which can ultimately help drive down health care costs through information and
awareness."

The Care Comparison online tool will provide the following information:
-- Total estimated cost ranges associated with approximately 35 specific
medical procedures
-- Costs are for procedures performed at more than 2,800 local hospitals,
outpatient surgery centers, free-standing radiology facilities or
other
medical facilities
-- Cost ranges are facility-specific so members can compare the
differences
in costs between area facilities.
-- Ranges of health care cost information that will initially be rolled
out
on a limited basis in each of these states.

-- Estimated cost ranges based on combining related services typically
performed at each facility at the time of the procedure, not just the
procedure itself.

Additionally, the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association (BCBSA), an
association of independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies, has selected
Care Comparison as its platform for a national transparency solution that will
be made available to all Blue Plans. BCBSA will use the treatment categories
and cost methodology as the core component for its consumer-facing cost
estimation tool.

This arrangement enables BCBSA, WellPoint's affiliated health plans and other
Blue plans to continue to work with physicians and facilities to provide
members with meaningful health care cost data. In turn, members can make more
informed choices about their health and health care spending. The tool will be
customized to reflect the local ownership and health plan in each state, but
members will have access to the same information from all states involved with
the program.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas -- the only statewide, customer-owned
health insurer in Texas -- is the largest provider of health benefits in the
state, working with nearly 40,000 physicians and 400 hospitals to serve 4
million members in all 254 counties. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas is a
division of Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC), the country's largest
customer-owned health insurer and fourth largest health insurer overall. HCSC
is a Mutual Legal Reserve Company and an Independent Licensee of the Blue
Cross and Blue Shield Association.

SOURCE Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas

Margaret Jarvis of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, +1-972-766-7165,
Margaret_jarvis@bcbstx.com