Independence Blue Cross

Independence Blue Cross is a health insurance company headquartered at 1901 Market Street in Center City Philadelphia. An independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, the company underwrites and administers medical, prescription drug, dental and vision coverage for individuals, families, seniors and employers, with its core service area covering Philadelphia and the four surrounding southeastern Pennsylvania counties of Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery. Through its family of companies and affiliates, it provides or administers coverage for several million people, making it one of the largest health insurers in the Philadelphia metropolitan region and one of the city's most recognizable corporate institutions.

The Philadelphia office listed here functions both as the company's corporate headquarters and as a point of contact for consumers who want to speak with licensed sales representatives about individual and Medicare coverage. The general customer and sales line is +1 800-275-2583, and plan information, provider directories and online enrollment tools are available at ibx.com.

History and Background

The organization traces its origins to 1938, when it was established as a hospital service plan for the Philadelphia area during the early growth of prepaid hospital coverage in the United States. Like other Blue Cross plans of that era, it began by arranging for subscribers to pay a modest monthly amount in exchange for coverage of hospital stays, at a time when private health insurance was still a new concept. Over the following decades the plan expanded into physician services, managed care and government programs, adopting the Independence Blue Cross name and building a portfolio of subsidiaries that includes Keystone Health Plan East, its HMO product line, and Personal Choice, its PPO product line.

The company has occupied a prominent place in the Philadelphia skyline since the completion of the Independence Blue Cross Tower, a high rise office building at 1901 Market Street that has served as its headquarters for decades. The building sits directly above the Market Street corridor near Suburban Station, placing the company in the middle of the city's central business district.

Coverage and Product Lines

Independence Blue Cross offers a broad range of health plans, generally organized into several categories:

• Individual and family health plans, including Affordable Care Act qualified health plans sold on Pennie, Pennsylvania's state based insurance marketplace, as well as off exchange options
• Medicare products, including Medicare Advantage HMO and PPO plans marketed under the Keystone 65 and Personal Choice 65 names, Medicare Supplement plans and standalone Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage
• Employer group coverage for small businesses through large national employers, including fully insured HMO, PPO and EPO designs and self funded arrangements administered on behalf of employers
• Dental and vision plans, available both as additions to medical coverage and as standalone products
• Supplemental and specialty coverage such as prescription drug benefits, telemedicine services and wellness programs

Because the company is a Blue Cross Blue Shield licensee, members generally have access to participating providers nationwide through the BlueCard program, which can matter for people who travel frequently, attend school out of state or spend part of the year elsewhere. Locally, the network includes the region's major hospital systems and thousands of primary care physicians and specialists, and the company publishes searchable provider directories so that prospective members can confirm whether a specific doctor or hospital participates in a given plan before enrolling.

Enrollment and Help from Licensed Agents

One practical reason consumers contact the Philadelphia office directly is to work with an in house licensed sales agent rather than navigating plan selection alone. Agents can walk callers through the differences between metal tiers, HMO and PPO network rules, deductibles, coinsurance, copays, out of pocket maximums and prescription formularies, and can compare how those variables play out for a particular household budget and set of medical needs.

For individual coverage, much of this work intersects with Pennie, the state marketplace where Pennsylvania residents apply for subsidies in the form of advance premium tax credits and cost sharing reductions. Agents at Independence Blue Cross are familiar with the Pennie application process and can help callers understand eligibility for financial assistance, income documentation requirements and how subsidy amounts change the net cost of a plan. Reviewers of this location frequently comment on the amount of hands on assistance provided during that process, including help resolving application problems and follow up contact after enrollment is complete.

Key enrollment periods worth noting include the annual open enrollment window for marketplace coverage, which typically runs from November into January, and the Medicare annual election period, which generally runs from October 15 through December 7 each year. Special enrollment periods may be available at other times for people who experience qualifying life events such as losing job based coverage, moving, marrying or having a child. Seniors aging into Medicare have their own initial enrollment window tied to their 65th birthday.

Location, Access and Service Area

The headquarters at 1901 Market Street is served by extensive public transit, including Regional Rail at Suburban Station, the Market Frankford Line and numerous bus and trolley routes along Market Street and nearby Center City corridors. Metered street parking is limited in the immediate area, and several commercial garages operate within a short walk. The location has a wheelchair accessible entrance and wheelchair accessible parking, and building access for visitors is typical of a Center City office tower, so anyone planning an in person visit should confirm arrangements by phone in advance, since most sales and service interactions are handled remotely.

The company's licensed service area for its Pennsylvania plans centers on the five southeastern counties, and affiliated companies market coverage in neighboring parts of the Delaware Valley, including southern New Jersey and Delaware, under separate brand names. Callers who live outside the licensed area are typically directed to the appropriate Blue Cross Blue Shield plan for their region.

Community Role

Beyond insurance operations, Independence Blue Cross is a longstanding participant in regional civic life. It supports community health initiatives, health education and access programs through its affiliated foundation, and it has been associated for many years with large scale public events and youth and amateur sports programming in the Philadelphia area. The company is also one of the larger private employers in the city, with a substantial workforce based in Center City and at other regional facilities.

Practical Information

• Address: 1901 Market Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103
• Phone: +1 800-275-2583
• Website: ibx.com, which hosts plan comparison tools, provider search, formulary lookup and member account services
• Business type: health insurance company and health insurance agency
• Accessibility: wheelchair accessible entrance and parking

Prospective members are generally advised to have a few pieces of information ready before calling: a list of current physicians and preferred hospitals, current prescriptions, an estimate of household income for the coverage year and a sense of how often household members expect to use medical care. Those details allow an agent to narrow the available plans quickly and to explain the tradeoffs between premium cost and out of pocket exposure in concrete terms.