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Press Release

Independence Blue Cross to Offer More Online Options on Member and Group Website

Benefitfocus.com, Inc. contract to enhance ibxpress.com

Philadelphia, PA - August 7, 2006 - Independence Blue Cross will launch an enhanced member and group website that lowers costs, simplifies employee benefit plan administration, and makes it easier and faster for members and employers to manage health care benefits.

Through a contract with Benefitfocus.com, Inc., a leading provider of software and services for employee benefits, Independence Blue Cross (IBC) will improve its self-service website, ibxpress.com, by providing new web tools to create a convenient online one-stop resource for health benefit management.

"We are committed to being a leader in providing innovative technology to better serve the needs of our groups and members," said Christopher Butler, IBC Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. "By expanding ibxpress.com, we are making it easier and more cost-effective for employers to manage health benefits quickly and efficiently."

In its latest expansion of technology to serve customers, IBC will offer new online capabilities through ibxpress.com to its group customers and members, starting in 2007. These new online options will provide:

  • Online open enrollment tool for groups and members for faster, easier enrollment
  • Support for the eligibility and enrollment activities for any health care carrier and third-party administrator
  • Features to help consumers make decisions about health insurance. For example, a Plan Configuration lets customers compare and customize health plans offered by the employer by selecting options such as deductible amounts, copays, coinsurance and pharmacy plans. A Benefit Calculator helps consumers determine the contribution amount for Consumer-Directed Health Plans such as HSA and Flex accounts.
  • The capability for employees to self-enroll and maintain benefit options online
  • Custom benefit management reports and important Human Resource Information System functions
  • The option to integrate directly with an employer's payroll vendor

By providing a direct, online connection to the health insurer, the enhanced website allows benefit administrators to do business with IBC, and gives members access to their health and benefit information quickly and easily. Currently, more than 35,000 employers in the Philadelphia region use ibxpress.com.

The reinforced website is IBC's newest expansion of technology to better serve members, groups and physicians.  In 2005, the company launched a pilot electronic prescribing project that allows more than 500 doctors to order prescriptions and access drug databases from the examining room using small handheld computers, saving administrative time, improving legibility of prescriptions, and increasing accuracy of the medicine provided.

In 2001, IBC was one of the first health plans in the nation to capitalize on the potential of the Internet to speed and simplify transactions with physicians and hospitals and eliminate paperwork when it developed NaviNet - an automated, electronic paperless and phone-free system that reduces administrative time and costs and increases accuracy between insurer and physician practices. In the Philadelphia region today, more than 20,800 physicians, 6,100 professional offices, and 100 hospitals used NaviNet.

About Benefitfocus
Benefitfocus.com, Inc. is a leading provider of software and services for employee benefits. Its suite of products and services includes large and small group electronic enrollment, electronic billing, and data exchange services. Noted for ease-of-use, the Benefitfocus applications allow users the ability to find information and make changes on all employer-sponsored benefit programs. In turn, the applications link and seamlessly exchange data with payroll vendors and benefit providers, reducing errors and costs associated with traditional paper-based forms. Benefitfocus allows companies to focus on the benefits rather than the paperwork. Benefitfocus can be reached at 843-849-7476 or via the Internet at www.benefitfocus.com.

About Independence Blue Cross
Independence Blue Cross is the leading health insurer in Southeastern Pennsylvania. Nationwide, IBC and its affiliates provide coverage to nearly 3.4 million people. For nearly 70 years, Independence Blue Cross has offered quality health care products and services tailored to meet the changing needs of members, employers, groups and providers.

Independence Blue Cross recently received the highest ratings from the National Committee for Quality Assurance for its HMO and PPO health care plans. In addition, in 2005, Independence Blue Cross's Personal Choice was rated the No. 1 PPO in the nation and its Keystone HMO was ranked the No. 1 HMO in the region by health care consumers in a leading independent consumer magazine.

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