Blue Shield of California To Return $50 Million to Health Insurance Customers

Merry Christmas!  Blue Shield of California has announced that it will be returning $50 million to members this year, most of them on their December bills.  For members with individual health insurance policies (i.e. not on employer-based group health insurance plans) that roughly translates into an average of $25 for an individual policyholder and $75 for a family of four.  For employers, the money back will average about $40 per employee, the company said.

It’s the continuation of an initiative to limit annual profits started last year by Blue Shield of California.  Last year, Blue Shield of California pledged to return money to health insurance policyholders in years when its net income is more than 2% of revenue.  As a result, the nonprofit company has already returned more than $470 million to customers for 2010 and 2011.

“This pledge continues to demonstrate that we put affordability before profit,” said Bruce Bodaken, Blue Shield’s chairman and chief executive.  Last year, Blue Shield of California had annual revenue of $9.53 billion and net income of $78 million. It reported reserves of $3.77 billion in the first quarter of this year.

What do you think about  Blue Shield of California‘s pledge?  Tell us about it in our discussion forum!

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