Better Information, More Empowerment

We’re committed providing you with answers and a deeper understanding of how the changes taking place in the healthcare industry affect you. In fact, we believe the more informed you are, the more powerful we can be together in helping control rising costs. 

Here’s what you can do to help keep medical costs in check:

1. Make sure your doctor, hospital and other providers are in-network. In-network means that they are part of a group of providers with whom BCBSAZ has negotiated discounts and other cost benefits for members of a particular plan. If the doctors and other providers you choose are not in your plan network, their services may not be covered, or you could pay much higher costs.
2. Consider an urgent care center for non-emergencies and you could pay as little as one-tenth of the cost of the ER. Some urgent care centers are open 24-hours and on holidays, making them not only cost-effective, but also convenient.
3. When prescribed medication, ask your doctor about generic drugs.
4. Shop around. Compare the cost of procedures by contacting several providers to determine the best value. Members can login at www.azblue.com/member and use the cost estimator to determine how much a service or procedure costs.
5. Request itemized hospital bills. As many as 80 percent of bills may have errors.[1]
6. Take advantage of your preventive care benefits.
7. Proactively ask questions of your providers. Check out these helpful starter questions.

We also have engaging and intuitive online resources that help members understand how health insurance works through our GetIn! program. 

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[1] ABC News, 2013. Accessed November 2015.