How Our Affiliation with Blue Cross Michigan Affects You

I’m pleased to share with you that our affiliation with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM) has been approved by the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation. We’re looking forward to working with our new partner to share resources, expertise, and technology to bring innovative solutions to Vermonters. I’d like to take this opportunity to tell you more about what to expect in the coming months and how it may affect you.

Through our affiliation with BCBSM, we now have an unprecedented capacity to address our three critical goals of improving Vermonter’s health care quality, access, and affordability. As we continue to strive toward these goals, it’s important to note that:

• We are still Vermont’s only local, not-for-profit health plan.
• Our Vermont-based management team stays the same.
• Decisions will continue to be made locally, including the benefits that we offer and premiums that reflect the cost of care in Vermont.
• You’ll be talking with the same customer service and support team members.
• Our employees will remain in Vermont; none will be asked to move to Michigan.
• Relationships with local health care providers and state regulators will remain the same.
• Premiums paid by Vermonters will stay here in Vermont and be used wholly to pay Vermont members’ claims, fund Vermont capital reserves, and support Vermont health plan administration. 
• Claims will continue to be processed in Vermont, just as they are today.
• We’ll still be very active in working with other Vermont organizations to build strong, healthy and vibrant local communities.
• We continue to support our state’s public health initiatives.

All members will continue to receive the same high-quality health coverage and benefits that you currently enjoy. Our primary goal remains helping you and your family live happier, healthier lives. We are steadfastly dedicated to making health care work better for all Vermonters.

What’s Changing

By partnering with BCBSM, we’ll now have access to the technology and resources of a much larger company without the associated increase in cost. Tapping into those resources will enable us to bring enhanced services and innovative programs to our members and customers.  

Over the next few years, here are a few things we’ll be working on with our new partner:

• Leveraging bigger discounts from pharmaceutical companies to lower Vermonters’ drug costs;
• Implementing improved self-service tools, such as a mobile app that lets members securely access their health plan information from anywhere;
• Sending proactive alerts to employers about their health plans; and
• Offering digital wellness and chronic condition management tools.

Best of Both Worlds

Our affiliation with BCBSM provides you the best of both worlds: support from a trusted, local company that’s responsive to your needs and those of our community, as well as the capacity and scale of a much larger organization. We’ve been a Vermont institution dedicated wholly to Vermonters for more than 40 years and that’s not going to change.