Elizabeth Rivelli is an insurance expert and freelance writer specializing in insurance and personal finance. Her work has been featured in major outlets like Investopedia, CNET and Bankrate, where she helps readers make confident decisions about car insurance, coverage options and financial planning.
John McCormick is an insurance expert and the editorial director for QuinStreet's insurance sites -- CarInsurance.com, Insurance.com and Insure.com. Before joining QuinStreet, he was a deputy editor at The Wall Street Journal and was an editor and reporter at several media outlets where he covered insurance, personal finance and technology.
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Health Care Service Corp. is a good health insurance provider overall. In our study of the Best Health Insurance Companies, HCSC ranked No. 5 (tied with Humana and Elevance), with an overall star rating of 3.95 out of 5.
The company ranked highly when we asked customers if they would renew their policies and if they would recommend the insurer to others. It was also one of only three insurers to have an A+ rating from AM Best, an indication of its financial stability.
In addition, the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), which rates plans on criteria like quality of care and patient experience, gave HCSC a score of 3.25 out of 5 stars. It also received a solid complaint index score from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, a 0.55. The NAIC ranks insurers by the number of customer complaints they receive. A market average is 1.0, and anything less indicates the carrier receives fewer complaints than typical for a company its size.
However, HCSC didn’t score well for affordability with several other insurers scoring higher in this category.
AM Best's Financial Strength Rating is an independent opinion of an insurer's financial strength and ability to meet its ongoing insurance policy and contract obligations.
Below is Insure.com’s review of the company. It’s based on third-party metrics and an in-depth survey of insurance customers. Find the full methodology here, including an explanation of our survey scores.
Of the companies we ranked in this category, HCSC placed in the second half. It received 3.77 out of 5 stars. Molina led this category with a rating of 4.54 out of 5.
However, HCSC might have lower rates than some competitors, depending on your state and policy type. Below is a look at how some of HCSC’s HMO rates in New Mexico (using rates for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Mexico, a division of HCSC.) compare with Molina and UnitedHealthcare. These are 2025 healthcare exchange rates for a single, 40-year-old male in excellent health with an annual income of $70,000.
HCSC didn’t receive a high score for customer satisfaction, with a rating of 4.04 out of 5. Molina had the highest score in this category. In J.D. Power’s latest U.S. Commercial Member Health Plan Study, HSCS earned mixed ratings, scoring above-average in some regions and below-average in others. However, it scored well in the Illinois and Indiana region.
HCSC wasn’t rated highly for its policy offerings. Our study showed that 73% of customers are happy with HCSC’s policy offerings. The winner here was Molina.
The majority of HCSC customers would recommend the company to other health insurance shoppers. According to the findings of our study, 92% of members said they would suggest HCSC to people looking for a new health insurance company, which was one of the highest scores. A few insurers did better in this category, including Highmark, which had a 100% recommendation rate.
More than eight out of 10 customers in our survey said they trust HCSC. A few insurers did better, including UnitedHealthcare, which earned the highest trustworthiness rating in our study.
Our study found that 89% (more specifically, 88.5%) of HCSC customers say they plan to renew their policy for another year. Only a few other companies scored higher in this category, including Molina (89.2%) and UnitedHealthcare (88.7%).
More than 70% of survey respondents said they were satisfied with HCSC’s digital experience, which includes its website and mobile app. The winner in this category was Molina.
HCSC customers didn’t give the company high marks when it came to deductibles. A deductible is the amount of money you have to pay out-of-pocket for health care services before your health insurance plan begins to pay. In our survey, only about 65% of customers said that the company has low deductibles. Molina earned the top spot in this category.
Our survey findings showed that 77% of respondents were happy with HCSC’s provider network. Elevance had the highest score.
When shopping for a health insurance plan, it’s important to consider the provider network. The network is a group of doctors and medical facilities that offer discounted medical services to plan members. When you visit a doctor or hospital that is out-of-network, you pay more out-of-pocket.
The origin of Health Care Service Corp. dates back to 1929 when Justin Ford Kimball, a vice president at the Baylor University School of Medicine, created the first model for affordable health insurance.
During the Great Depression, several hospital officials, doctors, and civic leaders in Chicago adopted Kimball’s health insurance model and launched the Chicago Plan for Hospital Care in 1936. The organization’s first health insurance policy was issued in 1937. Over the following decades, the organization grew and was later renamed Hospital Service Corporation.
In 1975, the Blue Cross Plan for hospital services and the Blue Shield Plan for physician services merged and began operating under the name Health Care Service Corp. Several smaller Blue Cross Blue Shield plans in Illinois merged with the organization and eventually, Blue Cross Blue Shield affiliates in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Montana joined HCSC.
Today, HCSC is the biggest customer-owned health insurance provider in the country. The company serves more than 23 million people nationwide.
Sources:
NAIC “Health Care Serv Corp National Complaint Index Report” Accessed March 2025.
HCSC “Overview” Accessed March 2025.
HCSC “History” Accessed March 2025.
Insure.com in the fall of 2024 surveyed more than 1,750 insurance consumers (almost 1,500 of which had health insurance). The survey was conducted by online market research company Slice MR.
Respondents were asked to name their health insurer and then grade it in a number of categories, including:
The percentage of respondents who said they were satisfied or very satisfied with their insurer is presented in the results.
We then asked respondents to provide a yes or no response to indicate their agreement with the following statements:
The percentage of respondents who said yes is presented in the results.
The editors compiled the survey results and then selected – based on the number of survey responses – the top companies for further evaluation.
We then collected data from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), which evaluates and rates health plans, and National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ complaint data, which ranks a company by the number of customer complaints it receives. The Insure.com team identified the NAIC codes of each underwriting company for each carrier and calculated a weighted average complaint index, weighted by the annual written premium. The associated NAIC complaint index score was used in the calculations.
With the help of Prof. David Marlett, Ph.D., Managing Director of the Brantley Risk and Insurance Center at Appalachian State University, the editors created a rating system to determine which insurance companies were best in each sector. For life insurers, we took the following and gave each a weight.
Each insurer was awarded between half a star and 5 stars. No company in the ranking received less than half a star in any category, and 5 stars was the most any insurer could receive.