Blue Shield of California Brings More Benefits and Cutting-Edge Technologies to Medicare Advantage Members; Expands Geographic Footprint in Northern California

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Blue Shield of California announced that its Medicare Advantage members will be eligible for new benefits and services to help them improve their health, as well as an expansion to serve Medicare beneficiaries in the full counties of Alameda, San Mateo and Sacramento.

"The mission of our nonprofit health plan is to bring affordable and quality health care to as many Californians as possible," said Krista Bowers, General Manager of Senior Markets, Blue Shield of California. "As more of the baby boomer generation ages into Medicare, offering more benefits and services has become a priority."

Blue Shield's Medicare Advantage plans offer services such as coverage for hearing aids, routine vision services including exams and eyewear as well as the SilverSneakers^® Fitness Program. Benefits vary by plans and service areas.

Blue Shield is also providing its Medicare Advantage members access to Wellvolution^SM, a best-in-class and largest in the industry network of clinically proven health-management and wellness resources that use lifestyle to prevent, treat and even reverse disease. The platform ? previously only available to Blue Shield's commercial health plan members ? will be available to Blue Shield's Medicare Advantage plan members as of January 1, 2020. Wellvolution helps address:

• Sleep quality
• Stress management
• Physical activity
• Diet and nutrition
• Tobacco cessation
• Cardio-metabolic disease prevention (e.g. diabetes, heart disease, etc.)
• Chronic condition reversal

Blue Shield will be offering Medicare Advantage PPO and HMO plans in Alameda County and a Medicare Advantage HMO plan in San Mateo County. It will also expand its Medicare Advantage HMO service area to serve all of Sacramento County.

As part of the expansion into additional geographic regions, Blue Shield has added Brown & Toland (San Mateo and Alameda counties) and Sutter Health (San Mateo County) to its Medicare Advantage provider network.

Medicare's Annual Election Period is October 15, 2019 to December 7, 2019. For more information about Blue Shield's Medicare plan offerings, please visit https://blueshieldcamedicare.com/.

About Blue Shield of California
Blue Shield of California strives to create a health care system worthy of our family and friends that is sustainably affordable. We are a nonprofit, independent member of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association with 6,800 employees, more than $20 billion in annual revenue and 4.3 million members. Founded in 1939 and headquartered in San Francisco, Blue Shield of California and its affiliates provide health, dental, vision, Medi-Cal and Medicare health care service plans in California. The company has contributed more than $500 million to Blue Shield of California Foundation since 2002 to have a positive impact on California communities.

For more news about Blue Shield of California, please visit our News Center at  www.news.blueshieldca.com. Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook.

SOURCE Blue Shield of California