Founded in 1935 in New York City, Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield is a publicly traded licensee of the world's most recognized health care association—Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield serves more than five million members throughout the state of New York and nationwide.

With eight regional offices across New York State including Albany, Bohemia, Melville, Middletown, Poughkeepsie, Syracuse, and Yorktown Heights, the local network of Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield includes providers in 28 eastern and southeastern counties of New York State. Additionally, Empire includes providers in 10 neighboring counties in Connecticut and New Jersey, totaling more than 82,000 provider locations and 147 hospitals in the vicinity.

Based on total PPO and HMO membership, Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield is the largest health insurance company in New York with a 91 percent customer satisfaction rating. Empire has a long history of providing a wide variety of plans for groups, individuals, and employers. It currently serves 38,000 employer accounts and consistently earns excellent accreditation status for quality assurance from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA).

Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield Plans

To get an idea of Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield's offerings, listed below are several popular plans:

• Healthy New York - This program offers affordable coverage to individuals and sole proprietors residing within the 28-county service area who are ineligible for employer provided comprehensive health insurance. The program features a variety of benefits such as coverage for preventative and primary care, emergency services, maternity care, and physician services. Members are also covered for inpatient and outpatient hospital services as well as laboratory services and pre-admission testing. It costs nothing to enroll and depending on the region, individuals opting for the New York Program without drug benefits can expect to pay as little as $138.79 per month.
  
  
• Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) - This is a flexible plan offering members the freedom to choose any provider (in- or out-of-network). For in-network care, there are no claim forms to fill out. Through the BlueCard Program, members are offered worldwide health care coverage when traveling throughout Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and the South Pacific.
  
  
• Senior Plan Direct - This plan offers unlimited inpatient hospital medical care as needed, emergency medical care anywhere in the world, and free fitness plan enrollment for anyone with Medicare residing in the Bronx, Kings, New York, Queens, Richmond, Suffolk, Nassau, Rockland, or Westchester counties. Members also enjoy the benefit of unlimited annual routine exams, such as vision, hearing, gynecological checkups, as well as immunizations.