Community. Value. Excellus BlueCross BlueShield is a nonprofit independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association

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1 Community Value Excellus BlueCross BlueShield is a nonprofit independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association We re committed to providing affordable access to quality health care. As a nonprofit, we have no shareholders to serve. We serve our upstate communities. Our margins are low, which keeps our premiums below the national average. Affordable premiums mean more people with coverage, and fewer uninsured. And because we re local, we support more than 8,000 local jobs and add $900 million to the upstate economy. We re neighbors helping neighbors build healthier communities.

2 1.8% Our average earnings stay low so you can save for other important things. From , Excellus BlueCross BlueShield s annual earnings before interest and taxes averaged 1.8 percent. Because we are a business, not a charity, we need to earn a margin. But we do not have to pay dividends to shareholders. That works in your favor. We are a nonprofit health plan, so we deliberately budget for low margins to keep coverage more affordable. We know you have other important things that matter. We re neighbors helping neighbors build healthier communities.

3 30% less Upstate premiums well below the national average mean more money for other things. Our average family premium rate in upstate New York is about 30 percent below the national average, according to the most recent nationwide benefit-for-benefit PPO price comparison, done in The reason? As a regional nonprofit health plan, we ve worked collaboratively with local hospitals, doctors, employers and community leaders for decades to offer affordable health care products. That s our mission. We re neighbors helping neighbors build healthier communities.

4 8.6% vs. 15.2% Lower upstate uninsured rate means more than 300,000 additional local people have health insurance. Across upstate New York, the uninsured rate from averaged 8.6 percent, while nationally 15.2 percent were uninsured. This means that 317,000 more people had coverage here than if our region were at the national rate. Lower uninsured rates are typically tied to two factors: affordable private coverage and government subsidized programs that help those who can t afford coverage. We re proud to offer significantly lower-cost private coverage than the national average and to partner with local hospitals and doctors to bring safety net coverage to more than 300,000 upstate New Yorkers. As a nonprofit health plan, we re neighbors helping neighbors build healthier communities.

5 A billion-dollar MYTH: That our health plan doesn t pay taxes. Over the past three years, Excellus BlueCross BlueShield and our parent company have paid $942 million in federal and state taxes. We re nonprofit in the sense that we have no shareholders and deliberately do not seek large margins but we re not a charity. We re a business that needs to generate a margin to stay in business, but we keep our margin low to keep coverage more affordable. In upstate New York, we re a good part of the reason why coverage costs are much less than the national average for the same benefits. Our annual margin averages 1.8 percent of premium, considerably less than the 7.3 percent average margin earned by large national insurers. The difference between the two average margins means that we ve collected $1.5 billion less in premium revenue over the past five years. As a business, we compete with other nonprofit and for-profit insurers for customers and talent to run our company. We re proud to be locally based and responsible for supporting 8,000 upstate jobs. We all live here. Our kids go to school here. We volunteer here. We spend here. We re neighbors helping neighbors build healthier communities.

6 8,000 Jobs And $900 million impact to the upstate economy Across upstate New York, our nonprofit health plan and parent company employ more than 6,000 people in about 50 locations. We indirectly create nearly 2,000 additional jobs through our purchases from regional vendors. We re a major purchaser of services that go beyond the $5 billion in medical benefits we pay out annually. Together, our companies economic impact on upstate communities amounts to about $900 million a year. Whether measured in jobs or dollars, our contributions to our local economy are substantial. As a nonprofit plan, we re neighbors helping neighbors build healthier communities. To learn more visit: excellusbcbs.com/annualreport B-4330 / CC