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Highmark health insurance review and ratings 2025

Highmark, No. 4 on Insure.com’s Best Health Insurance Companies list, scored well in our health insurance consumer survey. Highmark’s customers rated it high for customer satisfaction, and 100% of customers said they would recommend the company to others. It earned 4.02 stars out of 5.
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Our Take

Highmark is an excellent health insurance provider to consider if you want to work with a company that provides great customer satisfaction. It’s No. 4 on Insure.com’s Best Health Insurance Companies list for 2025, earning 4.02 stars out of 5.

In our study of the top health insurance companies, Highmark earned an overall customer satisfaction score of 4.16 out of 5 stars. It also ranked well for policy offerings, low deductibles and ease of accessing policy documents.

In addition, 100% of survey respondents said they would recommend Highmark to other health insurance shoppers. The company received a strong National Committee for Quality Assurance rating– 3.7 out of 5 stars. NCQA evaluates healthcare plans on, among other things, member satisfaction. 

Highmark scored decently overall in terms of cost, but we found that other companies rated higher for affordability. And Highmark only sells health insurance in Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York and West Virginia, so it’s not an option for most health insurance shoppers.

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.

Highmark
Highmark Ratings
Overall Rating: 4.02
Price/Affordability: 4.06
NCQA: 3.70
Customer Satisfaction: 4.16
AM Best Rating: A
Effective date:

Pros and Cons

Pros:
  • Highly rated for customer satisfaction
  • Highly rated for its referral policy
  • 100% of customers would recommend the company
Cons:
  • Limited coverage area
  • Didn’t score as high as other ranked insurers for affordability

How much does Highmark insurance cost?

Highmark’s health insurance plans are decent in terms of cost. In our study, however, Highmark was ranked sixth out of nine providers for price/affordability. Molina led this category with 4.54 stars out of 5.

CompanyPrice/affordability stars 
Highmark4.06
Molina4.54
UnitedHealthcare4.05

The cost of health insurance from Highmark depends on the plan you purchase, as well as personal factors like your age and whether you smoke. Here are the average 2025 healthcare exchange rates for several plans in Pennsylvania for a 40-year-old male in excellent health with an annual salary of $70,000:

CompanyRate/MonthPlan
Highmark $409my Priority Blue Flex PPO Bronze 8900
Highmark $550my Priority Blue Flex PPO Gold 1500
Highmark $656my Priority Blue Flex PPO Silver 7000

How Highmark scores for customer satisfaction

Highmark stands out for its superior customer satisfaction. In our study, Highmark received 4.16 out of 5 stars for customer satisfaction, the third-highest of the companies we ranked. Separately, Highmark’s Blue Cross Blue Shield plans received mixed reviews in J.D. Power’s latest U.S. Commercial Member Health Plan Study in several regions, however it did well in the Delaware-West Virginia-Washington, D.C., area.

CompanyCustomer satisfaction starsJ.D. Power overall satisfaction score in DE-WV-DC (out of 1,000) 
Highmark 4.16572
Aetna4.07557
Cigna4.13549

How Highmark scores for policy offerings

Highmark has great policy offerings. In our survey,  84% of respondents said they were satisfied with the policies offered by the company. Molina led this category.

CompanyPercent of customers who score their health insurance company highly for policy offerings
Highmark84%
Molina92%
UnitedHealthcare77%

Would customers recommend Highmark to others?

Yes, 100% of survey respondents said they would recommend Highmark to other people looking for health insurance. With great customer satisfaction and a high renewal rate, it makes sense why so many current customers would suggest Highmark to health insurance shoppers. Highmark took the top spot in this category.

CompanyPercent of customers who would recommend their health insurance company to others
Highmark100%
UnitedHealthcare94%
Elevance90%

How trustworthy is Highmark?

More than 80% of Highmark customers said the company was trustworthy, putting it in the top half of this category. According to the survey, UnitedHealthcare is the most trusted health insurance provider.

CompanyPercent of customers who say they trust their health insurance company
Highmark81%
UnitedHealthcare89%
Molina78%

Do current Highmark customers plan to renew?

More than three-quarters of Highmark’s customers said they plan to renew their policy. However, most other companies in our study scored better. Molina had the highest percentage of customers who said they would renew their policies with the company.  

CompanyPercent of customers who plan to renew with their health insurance company
Highmark77%
Molina89%
Kaiser Permanente74%

How Highmark scores for digital experience

Highmark ranked in the second half in this category, which was led by Molina.

Insurance company Percent of customers who highly rank the company’s digital experience
Highmark 81%
Molina 87%
Aetna 80%

How Highmark scores for deductibles

Highmark earned a pretty good score in this category. More than 77% of respondents said they were satisfied with Highmark’s low 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. Molina was the highest scorer in this category.

Insurance company Percent of customers who highly rank the company for low deductibles
Highmark 77%
Molina 87%
Cigna 74%

How Highmark scores for its provider network

Highmark ranked fifth out of nine insurance companies for its provider network. Of the customers we surveyed, 84% said they were satisfied with Highmark’s provider network, which is the group of doctors, specialists, and hospitals that provide discounted services to insured members. Elevance earned the best score in this category.

Insurance company Percent of customers who highly rank the company’s provider network
Highmark 84%
Elevance 88%
Kaiser Permanente 79%

Highmark health insurance coverage options

  • Insurance for individuals and families
  • Medicare
  • Medicaid/CHIP

Other Highmark services

  • Travel insurance
  • Dental insurance
  • Vision insurance

States where Highmark offers coverage

Graph
Table
States where Highmark offers coverage
Delaware
New York
Pennsylvania
West Virginia
AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DC DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY
Available
Not available

Company background

Highmark

Highmark was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Pittsburgh. The company was formed when Blue Cross of Western Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania Blue Shield merged and became a single health insurance company under the name Highmark.

Over the past several decades, multiple Blue Cross Blue Shield affiliates have joined Highmark, including Blue Cross Blue Shield of Delaware and Mountain State Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Today, Highmark sells health insurance plans to roughly 7 million customers across four states: Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York, and West Virginia.

Resources and Methodology

Sources:

Healthcare.gov. “How insurance companies set health premiums.” Accessed March 2025.

J.D. Power. “Commercial Health Plan Member Satisfaction Declines in Key Areas.” J.D. Power Finds.” Accessed March 2025.

NAIC. “Highmark Inc National Complaint Index Report.” Accessed March 2025.

Highmark. “Our Story.” Accessed March 2025.

Methodology

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:

  • Customer satisfaction
  • Ease of service
  • Policy offerings
  • The cost of insurance/affordability
  • Low deductible
  • Preferred providers available
  • Not needing a referral

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:

  1. I plan to keep my coverage with my current health insurance company
  2. I would recommend my health insurance company to others
  3. I trust my health insurance company

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.

  • Survey: 60% of the total score (10% customer satisfaction, 10% recommended, 10% policy retention, 10% trust, and 20% affordability)
  • NCQA: 25% of total score
  • NAIC: 15% of total score

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.

author image
Elizabeth Rivelli
Contributing Researcher

 
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Elizabeth Rivelli is a freelance writer who covers various insurance topics. Her areas of expertise are life insurance, car insurance, property insurance and health insurance. Elizabeth’s byline has appeared in dozens of online publications, including Investopedia, CNET and Bankrate. She has also written for several insurance carriers.

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