UnitedHealthcare vs. Blue Cross Blue Shield Insurance: Which Is Better?

UnitedHealthcare and Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) are similar in many ways, with both health insurance companies offering the same major types of health insurance and operating throughout the entire United States. However, BCBS gains a slight edge because it has a larger network and better customer satisfaction ratings.

Read below if you’re interested in more specific UnitedHealthCare vs. Blue Cross Blue Shield comparisons that can help you decide which insurance company to choose.

On This Page

• 

  UnitedHealthcare History

• 

  Blue Cross Blue Shield History

• 

  UnitedHealthcare vs. Blue Cross Blue Shield: A Quick Glance

• 

  UnitedHealthcare Pros and Cons

• 

  Blue Cross Blue Shield Pros and Cons

• 

  UnitedHealthcare vs. Blue Cross Blue Shield: Plan Structures

• 

  UnitedHealthcare vs. Blue Cross Blue Shield: Plan Availability

• 

  UnitedHealthcare vs. Blue Cross Blue Shield: In-Network Providers

• 

  UnitedHealthcare vs. Blue Cross Blue Shield: Cost

• 

  UnitedHealthcare vs. Blue Cross Blue Shield: Coverage Limits

• 

  UnitedHealthcare vs. Blue Cross Blue Shield: Policy Management

• 

  UnitedHealthcare vs. Blue Cross Blue Shield: Medical Loss Ratio

• 

  UnitedHealthcare vs. Blue Cross Blue Shield: Enrollment Process

• 

  UnitedHealthcare vs. Blue Cross Blue Shield: Policyholder Experience

• 

  How To File Claims With UnitedHealthcare and Blue Cross Blue Shield

• 

  FAQs

UnitedHealthcare History

Richard Burke founded UnitedHealthcare’s parent company, UnitedHealth Group, in 1977 while he was still a health analyst at InterStudy. There, he worked alongside Dr. Paul Ellwood, who pioneered the health maintenance organization (HMO) as a way to lower health care costs by changing how medical providers were paid.^[1]

Click to read our full UnitedHealthcare review.

Blue Cross Blue Shield History

Blue Cross started out at Baylor University’s hospital in 1929, where hospital administrators aimed to help Dallas public school teachers who were struggling to afford health care by establishing a prepayment plan through which they could pay 50 cents per month to secure coverage for up to 21 days of hospitalization per year. Not long after, Blue Shield began to take root as employers of miners and loggers in the Pacific Northwest made arrangements for their employees to receive care from specific medical practitioners for a monthly premium.^[2]

In the 1940s, Blue Cross and Blue Shield began to set up agreements with each other, enabling them to provide more comprehensive major medical coverage for their respective plan members. The two companies formally merged to form the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association in 1982.^[2] As of 2024, the BCBSA includes 33 subsidiary companies.^[3]

Click to read our full Blue Cross Blue Shield review.

UnitedHealthcare vs. Blue Cross Blue Shield: A Quick Glance

UnitedHealthcare Pros and Cons

Blue Cross Blue Shield Pros and Cons

UnitedHealthcare vs. Blue Cross Blue Shield: Plan Structures

UnitedHealthcare and Blue Cross Blue Shield both offer a wide array of health insurance coverage types including private Health Insurance Marketplace plans, government-funded health care programs, group coverage through employers and supplemental health insurance policies.

UnitedHealthcare vs. Blue Cross Blue Shield: Plan Availability

Blue Cross Blue Shield and UnitedHealthcare are basically tied when it comes to availability, as both insurers offer coverage in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and one United States territory.^[3][4] That said, you should keep in mind that the availability of certain coverage types may vary from state to state.

UnitedHealthcare vs. Blue Cross Blue Shield: In-Network Providers

Both UnitedHealthcare and Blue Cross Blue Shield boast sizable networks but BCBS takes the lead with a total of 1.7 million in-network providers in the United States, which is the largest domestic health insurance network in the country.^[3] Meanwhile, UnitedHealthcare’s network includes over 1.3 million doctors and other health care professionals across more than 6,700 hospitals and medical facilities.^[5]

UnitedHealthcare vs. Blue Cross Blue Shield: Cost

Your health insurance premiums can drastically differ depending on your coverage needs and circumstances, making it hard to compare average premiums between any two health insurance companies. Generally speaking, Marketplace benchmark plans cost $477 per month and Medicare Advantage plans cost $18.50 per month on average in 2024.^[6][7]

Fortunately, health insurance prices are not entirely unpredictable because insurers that comply with the Affordable Care Act (ACA) can only take these factors into account when deciding how much to charge you:^[8]

• Age
• Location
• Tobacco use
• Whether you have an individual or family plan
• Plan metal level

UnitedHealthcare vs. Blue Cross Blue Shield: Coverage Limits

Coverage limits can also vary from plan to plan, meaning you will generally be able to find a plan with limits that match your needs and budget. Additionally, ACA-compliant plans cannot place limits on any of the following essential health benefits:^[9][10]

• Ambulatory patient services
• Emergency services
• Hospitalization
• Pregnancy, maternity and newborn care
• Mental health and substance use disorder services
• Prescription drugs
• Rehabilitative and habilitative services and devices
• Laboratory services
• Preventive and wellness services and chronic disease management
• Pediatric services (including dental and vision care for children)

UnitedHealthcare vs. Blue Cross Blue Shield: Policy Management

Whether you opt for UnitedHealthcare or Blue Cross Blue Shield, you should have the option to manage the details of your policy by phone, online portal or mobile app. You should note that BCBS companies generally have their own mobile apps, so the user experience can vary depending on where you live.

UnitedHealthcare vs. Blue Cross Blue Shield: Medical Loss Ratio

ACA-compliant health insurers that sell individual or small group health insurance are required to maintain a three-year rolling average medical loss ratio (MLR) of 80%, meaning they must use 80% of the money they receive from policyholders’ premiums to cover health care as opposed to operational costs or profits. Carriers that sell large group coverage have to have a three-year rolling average MLR of 85%. If an insurance company fails to meet these standards, it must pay out prorated rebates to all of its plan members in the affected markets.^[17]

UnitedHealthcare and other UnitedHealth Group companies paid out rebates in the following states and markets in 2023:^[18]

Meanwhile, eligibility for rebates varies among Blue Cross Blue Shield plan members since each BCBS company operates independently. For example, BCBS policyholders in South Carolina received rebates in 2022, while policyholders in Massachusetts received rebates in 2023.^[19][20]

UnitedHealthcare vs. Blue Cross Blue Shield: Enrollment Process

You will usually need to join a UnitedHealthcare or Blue Cross Blue Shield plan during open enrollment if you shop through the Health Insurance Marketplace. In most states, open enrollment lasts from November 1 to January 15.^[21] If you’re looking for a Medicare Advantage plan instead, then you’ll need to remember these Medicare open enrollment dates:^[22]

However, you can still sign up for either type of plan outside of open enrollment if you qualify for a special enrollment period. Special enrollment periods are typically triggered by major life events that alter your coverage needs such as these:^[23]

• Getting married, divorced or separated
• Giving birth to or adopting a child
• Changing or losing your job
• Moving to a new home
• Losing your existing health coverage due to the death of a family member
• Aging out of your parents’ health plan by turning 26
• Becoming a United States citizen
• Leaving prison

UnitedHealthcare vs. Blue Cross Blue Shield: Policyholder Experience

Blue Cross Blue Shield stands out when it comes to the quality of the policyholder experience, as a 2024 J.D. Power study found that BCBS companies have the highest customer satisfaction ratings of any health insurance company in the following eight regions:^[24]

• Colorado
• Delaware/West Virginia/Washington, D.C.
• Heartland
• Illinois/Indiana
• Michigan
• New Jersey
• Northeast
• Southwest

In contrast, UnitedHealthcare is not the highest-rated insurer in any region.^[24] Additionally, although UnitedHealthcare does not have a star rating based on customer reviews on the Better Business Bureau website, it has received an F rating from the BBB itself, while Blue Cross Blue Shield has received an A+ rating from the BBB.^[25][26]