Skip to Content (Press Enter)

Rate and onboard large groups faster

Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield is launching standard plans for groups 51-500 that will improve the rating process and simplify our overall product offering for these segments. Standard plans allow for more variability depending on the group’s size.

Group size 51-100:
  • Pharmacy
Group size 101-200:
  • Primary care and specialist copays
  • Urgent care
  • Pharmacy
Group size 201-500:
  • Primary care and specialist copays
  • Urgent care
  • ER
  • Pharmacy
Group size 500+
  • Custom plan benefits

Grandfathered clients can keep their existing plans when they renew (if they have not used all of their allowable changes per ACA) — however, if they’re interested in shopping, you would need to quote them standard plans. Non-grandfathered plans are allowed to keep their existing plan, too, but be quoted standard plans if they decided to shop for something new.

Why standard plans for large group?

At Arkansas Blue Cross, we’re improving and speeding up our quoting and renewal process. Standard plans help us accomplish that by adding clarity and structure to the plans your clients can purchase. With fewer moving parts, we’ll be able to implement and onboard 51-500 groups faster because we’re not selling a totally different, custom plan every time.

For agents and brokers, standard plans mean easier quoting and renewal. The plans are simple and straightforward — when a client tells you what they’re looking for in their health plan, and what their price point is, we believe you’ll be able to more efficiently find the right plan. We’ve included decrements on the marketing grids to give you a general idea of the benefit relativity between the plans, it’ll be easier to stair-step a group into a plan that best meets their needs. And your clients will have more clarity into what they’re buying.

Each year, we’ll update the grids and remove plans that are unpopular, so we continue to offer the plans that your clients prefer, without cluttering our standard plan offerings with plans that don’t sell.

What kind of plans are available?

Standard plans are available for:

  • Arkansas Blue Cross PPO
  • Arkansas Blue Cross high-deductible health plans
  • Health Advantage POS
  • Health Advantage high-deductible health plans
When can I begin quoting?

Quoting standard plans for large group begins July 1 for September 1 effective dates. Our new, easier-to-use benefit summary tool will be available on July 15 (look for an email announcing it is live).

Marketing grids with plan factors are available below. FAQs, too.

We’re also including a new benefit summary process that allows agents and brokers to simply visit a web page and select drop-down boxes for the plan and variable benefits to generate a PDF of the summary.

Marketing Grids*

* Grids are not intended for pricing purposes. Illustrative purposes only.

Other Information

Questions? Contact your Arkansas Blue Cross large group representative.