Speaker 1:

I've been in primary care practice since the late nineties, in California. I always believed that healthcare was a way to help people live better lives, and that we could do a much better job than what we're doing in that work.

We really, at Blue Shield, believe that we can help create a healthcare system that is worthy of our family and friends, and sustainably affordable.

Audrey Young:

It's not just something that's written on a wall, or written on a website. We actually live out our mission every day.

Speaker 1:

We're insuring almost five million Californians. How can we bring whatever works to our members, to help them live a better life and to be healthier?

Virtual Blue is an exciting virtual first health plan that Blue Shield is offering for the first time this year.

Audrey Young:

Virtual Blue gives you the choice. Virtual first, but not virtual only.

Speaker 1:

You can access unlimited virtual care through these really great virtual providers. That's primary care, specialty care, and mental healthcare. And if you need to be seen in-person, you get our whole PPO network; physicians, hospitals, labs, any medical facilities that people need whenever they want or need care in-person.

Audrey Young:

Members who could be as young as four years old can see a specialty provider and get their healthcare needs taken care of.

Speaker 1:

So it really combines that easy access to all kinds of virtual care with the really robust in-person network as well.

Audrey Young:

This plan specifically appeals to someone like me because I'm a mom, and I work a full-time job. My kids are in sports. There's a lot going on in my household already. You're not just going to have a provider or a doctor. You're going to have health coaches who help also navigate you through the health system.

So being able to not have to drive to a doctor's appointment, and having a health coach send me a reminder in a text message, makes it so much easier for me, because it's one less thing that I have to think about.

Speaker 1:

We've built a system where that kind of care is actually built into the care model. The therapists are actually connected to the primary care doctors, the health coaches connect all the members of the team. And patients get the benefit of that kind of care.

Audrey Young:

You have a $0 copay, so it makes it really convenient and easy for you to be able to get your needs taken care of.

Speaker 1:

It's for everybody. People in their twenties through mid-forties. I've had phenomenal experiences doing virtual visits with people in their eighties, and even nineties. The potential for being able to offer virtual care to people at all ages and all stages of their life, for all different kinds of needs is really, it's limitless.

This is not just convenience for the sake of convenience. It's not just, I can get an appointment anytime I want. It's, I can get an appointment when I want, with the provider that I chose. That's the kind of convenience we want to provide with Virtual Blue, is convenience that matters.

We are so excited to see what that feels like for our members. Because we want our members to be able to open up to their healthcare providers. And to tell them, what are their aspirations? What are their goals for their own well-being?

It's our dream at Blue Shield to be able to connect our members to providers that help them along that path. Because we really know that people will be healthier when that can happen.