Blue Cross Blue Shield Plans Expenses Declined in 2021

For Blue plans, 2021 reflected trends in membership, the effects of cost management and a redeployment of expenses. Blues experienced a modest decline in costs, the first since 2015. Also, for continuous plans, this was the third year in a row of declines in the rate of growth. Total costs per member per month (PMPM) declined to a median decline of 0.4% from 5.2% in the prior year. The growth in in Account and Membership Administration (representing over 45% of all expenses) fell to 1.7% from 2.7% in 2020.

This analysis is based on the twenty-fifth annual edition of our performance benchmarks for health plans. The Sherlock Benchmarks (Sherlock Expense Evaluation Report or SEER) represent the cumulative experience of, we expect by year end, more than 950 health plan years. This 24th analysis of Blue Plans is based on a peer group of sixteen Blue Cross Blue Shield Plans who collectively serve approximately 49.1 million people, not including Host, specialty, and other products. We believe this universe to be quite robust. Participants in this year’s study serve about 71% of all Blue comprehensive membership, excluding those served by publicly-traded firms.

Event Date: Wednesday, July 6, 2022

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Category(s): Health Plans

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