Blue Medicare Advantage Expands Service Area into all 100 North Carolina Counties

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (Blue Cross NC) has some exciting new changes for the 2023 plan year. We have added 10 new counties to our Medicare Advantage service area, bringing Blue Medicare Advantage to all 100 counties in North Carolina. This includes $0 premium plans, with drug coverage, in every county. Additionally, we enhanced our benefits to help members get to their appointments and to safeguard members aging in place.

Enhanced benefits 

• MAPD plans with $0 member premiums across all 100 counties 
• Reduced out-of-pocket costs for key services, such as physical therapy 
• Non-emergent medical transportation, caregiver support, home services, and personal emergency response (more detail below) 
• Increased vision allowance 
• Out-of-network benefits for dental care 
• Caregiving and household support 

Support for volunteer caregivers: Through Carallel, we’ll be offering support for family and friends who provide volunteer caregiving to our Medicare Advantage members. Carallel also serves Medicare Advantage members who themselves are in caregiving roles. This includes connecting them to both plan and community resources that can support them in decision making, help them keep up with member needs and avoid burnout. Carallel provides support for caregivers by offering advice, emotional support, and assisting with caregiving tasks. 

In-home assistance: Through CareLinx, we’ll provide 60 hours of in-home support such as companionship, household help, personal needs and medication reminders. (Not available for HMO choice or Essential MA Plans). CareLinx can help with activities of daily living, including grooming, toileting and bathing, in addition to support with, light housekeeping, and task management. 

Non-Emergent Medical Transportation: Through SafeRide Health, we’ll provide 24 one-way rides for visits to doctors, dentists, or pharmacies. (Not available for HMO choice or Essential MA Plans). SafeRide was founded with the mission to improve access to care by empowering health plans and care providers to take more control of patient transportation. 

Personal Emergency Response System: 24-hour medical alert support through Connect America. Members will have a wearable device with a call button. The system also has fall detection and GPS capabilities available on most devices. Connect America provides a personal, wearable device that can be activated to alert their call center in the event of an emergency. 

Dual Eligibility Special Needs Plan 

OTC Allowance Card: Combined Healthy Grocery and OTC card allowance card for whole-person health care.  Members can choose how they want to spend their allowance – they can use it all for healthy groceries, all on OTC items or on a combination of items. 

More Medicare Advantage accolades for Blue Cross NC

Our Medicare Advantage HMO and PPO plans have once again been awarded 4.5 stars out of 5 by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for 2023. Star ratings are based on a number of factors, including healthcare quality, member experience and customer service. The rating makes our plans more attractive, and being recognized as one of the best Medicare Advantage companies in North Carolina for 2023 by US News allows us to further enhance our plans.