Welcome! You have arrived at an online service location (e.g., web site or application) that is owned and operated by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association ("BCBSA" or "we," "our" or "us"). This "Privacy Policy" governs your use of any online service location (e.g., web site or application) that posts a link to this Privacy Policy, and also applies to your use of interactive features, widgets, plug-ins, applications, content, downloads and/or other services (collectively, the "Service") that: (i) we own and control and make available through an online service; or (ii) that posts a link to this Privacy Policy, regardless of how you access or use the Service, whether via personal computers, mobile devices or otherwise.
PLEASE READ THIS COOKIE STATEMENT CAREFULLY BEFORE USING OR OBTAINING ANY MATERIALS, INFORMATION, PRODUCTS OR SERVICES THROUGH THE SERVICES. BY ACCESSING THE SERVICES, YOU AGREE TO ACCEPT, WITHOUT LIMITATION OR QUALIFICATION, THIS COOKIE STATEMENT. We reserve the right to change, update, or correct any of this Cookie Statement or any information contained in the Services at any time without notice by posting an amended statement to the Services. Your continued use of the Services means that you accept and agree to the revised Cookie Statement. If you do not accept this Cookie Statement (as amended from time to time), please exit the Services immediately.
To the extent we provide you notice on our Service of different or additional privacy policies or practices (e.g., at the point of our collection), those additional terms shall govern such data collection and use. By using our Service, you consent to our Privacy Policy and our collection, use and sharing of your information and data, and other activities, as described below.
Our web servers automatically capture your domain name, the IP address of the web page from which you enter our Service, browser type, the pages you visit on our Service, the amount of time you spend here and other relevant information about your visit. We do not collect any information that can reveal your personal identity unless you voluntarily provide it when you register to use interactive features of the Service, including the sales portal, or to receive information from us or our member Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies ("Blue Plans"). The information we collect is not part of any designated record set.
If you use the features on this website or on the websites of our business partners, you are “opting in” and agree to our collection of information as described above. You may “opt in” or “opt out” each time you access the website. If you “opt out,” you cannot use the interactive features, such as the sales portal or the National Doctor Hospital Finder.
Any personally identifiable information you give us will be used only as permitted by law, including to provide the product, service or information you have requested, like a quote from one of the Blue companies, or to support the programs for which you registered. Unless you specifically consent to let us do so, your personally-identifiable information, including your e-mail address, will not be sold, rented, licensed, or otherwise shared with third parties, other than Blue Plans or business partners as appropriate to fulfill a request from you. Additionally, unless subject to your consent, to fulfill a request from you, or as otherwise set forth in this Privacy Policy -
The non-personally identifiable information we gather in aggregate form may be used to improve our Service, and we may share that information with Blue Plans, business partners, third-party vendors working on our behalf, or our health and wellness sponsors.
Information that you voluntarily provided will be maintained as long as BCBSA deems appropriate to fulfill the purpose for which you provided the information, until you request us to remove it, or for as long as permitted under applicable law.
We may offer sweepstakes, contests, and other promotions (any, a "Promotion") through the Service that may require registration. By participating in a Promotion, you are agreeing to official rules that govern that Promotion, which may contain specific requirements of you, including, allowing the sponsor of the Promotion to use your name, voice and/or likeness in advertising or marketing associated with the Promotion. If you choose to enter a Promotion, personal information may be disclosed to third parties or the public in connection with the administration of such Promotion, including, in connection with winner selection, prize fulfillment, and as required by law or permitted by the Promotion’s official rules, such as on a winners list.
To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, we may also disclose your information if we believe in good faith that doing so is necessary or appropriate to: (i) protect or defend the rights, safety or property of BCBSA or third parties (including through the enforcement of this Privacy Policy, and other applicable agreements and policies); or (ii) comply with legal and regulatory obligations (e.g., pursuant to law enforcement inquiries, subpoenas or court orders). To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, we have complete discretion in electing to make or not make such disclosures, and to contest or not contest requests for such disclosures, all without notice to you.
We may use third-party vendors to perform certain services on behalf of us or the Service, such as hosting the Service, designing and/or operating the Service’s features, tracking the Service’s activities, utilization of sharing technology that allows users to share content on this Site through social media, and analytics. We may provide these vendors with access to user information or they may directly collect your information to carry out the services they are performing for you or for us. Third-party analytics and other service providers may set and access their own tracking technologies on your device and they may otherwise collect or have access to information about you, potentially including personal information, about you. We are not responsible for those third party technologies or activities arising out of them.
We may also work with certain third parties to provide us with information regarding traffic on the Service to serve advertisements elsewhere online, and to provide us with information regarding the use of our website or services and the effectiveness of our advertisements. These third parties may automatically collect information about you using their own cookies or other technologies, or may otherwise collect or have access to, information about your visits to this and other websites, your IP address, your ISP, the browser you use to visit our website and other usage information. Information collected may be used, among other things, to deliver advertising targeted to your interests and to better understand the usage and visitation of our website and the other sites tracked by these third parties.
If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, you may visit: https://www.aboutads.info/choices (for website users), https://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp (for website users), https://youronlinechoices.eu/ (for users in the EU), or https://youradchoices.com/appchoices (for mobile app users).
When you visit the Service, we may place a temporary "session" or a permanent cookie on your computer that will allow us to customize and enhance your experience at the Service, make improvements to our Service, or to report Service activity. Our session cookies are not permanently stored on your computer and expire when you leave. Permanent cookies are issued to Service visitors who link the Service from a search engine and are used only to permit BCBSA to attract qualified users to the Service. Our cookies are not used to send spam. We store cookie information in aggregate form and use the aggregate information to make improvements to the Service or in internal reports on Service activity. You may opt out of allowing cookies to be placed on your computer. Refusing cookies disables our ability to include information about your visit in our regular monitoring of Service traffic.
A cookie is a small amount of data sent from a web server to your browser and stored on your computer or mobile device’s hard drive while you are viewing the website. We may use both session cookies (which expire once you close your web browser) and persistent cookies (which stay on your computer until you delete them) to provide you with a more personal and interactive experience on our website. This type of information is collected to make the Service more useful to you and to tailor your experience with us to meet your special interests and needs. We use and store this information to provide you with more personalized and customized online services and to make our site more convenient, useful, valuable and appealing to you.
We use two broad categories of cookies: (1) first party cookies, served directly by us to your computer or mobile device, which we use to recognize your computer or mobile device when it revisits our website; and (2) third party cookies, which are served by service providers on our website, and can be used by such service providers to recognize your computer or mobile device when it visits other websites.
The Service may use the following types of cookies for the purposes set out below:
Essential CookiesThese cookies are essential to provide you with services available through our website and to enable you to use some of its features. Without these cookies, the services that you have asked for cannot be provided, and we only use these cookies to provide you with those services.
Functionality CookiesThese cookies allow our website to remember choices you make when you use the Service, such as remembering your language preferences, remembering your login details and remembering the changes you make on other parts of our website, which you can customize. The purpose of these cookies is to provide you with a more personal experience and to avoid you having to re-enter your preferences every time you visit the Service.
Analytics and Performance CookiesThese cookies are used to collect information about traffic to our website and how users use the Service. The information gathered does not identify any individual visitor. The information is aggregated and anonymous. The information gathered may include the number of visitors to the Service, the websites that referred them to our website, the pages they visited on our website, what time of day they visited our website, whether they have visited our website before, and other similar information.
We use Google Analytics and NewsCred for this purpose. Google Analytics uses its own cookies. You can find out more information about Google Analytics cookies here and about how Google protects your data here. You can prevent the use of Google Analytics relating to your use of our Site by downloading and installing the browser plugin available here.
Targeted and Advertising CookiesThese cookies track your browsing habits to enable us to show advertising that is more likely to be of interest to you. These cookies use information about your browsing history to group you with other users who have similar interests. Based on that information, third party advertisers can place cookies to enable them to show advertisements that we think will be relevant to your interests while you are on third party websites.
Social Media CookiesThese cookies are used when you visit any public BCBS.com page. A social networking website such as Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn can record that you have visited this page and could use this information to serve you relevant ads that are in compliance with platform advertising policies.
If you decide at any time that you no longer wish to accept cookies from our services for any of the purposes described above, then you can typically instruct your browser, by changing its settings, to remove or stop accepting cookies or to prompt you before accepting a cookie from the websites you visit. In order to do this, consult your browser’s technical information (instructions are usually located within the “settings,” “help” “tools” or “edit” facility). Many browsers are set to accept cookies until you change your settings.
Further information about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set on your computer or mobile device and how to manage and delete them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org.
If you do not accept our cookies, you may experience some inconvenience or not be able to use all portions of the services or all functionality of the services.
In addition, we may use pixel tags (also referred to as clear GIFs, web beacons, or web bugs) on the Service to track the actions of users on website. Pixel tags are tiny graphic images with a unique identifier, similar in function to cookies, which are used to track online movements of web users. In contrast to cookies, which are stored on a user’s computer hard drive, pixel tags are embedded invisibly in web pages. Pixel tags also allow us to send email messages in a format users can read, and they tell us whether emails have been opened, for example, to ensure that we are sending messages that are of interest to our users. We may use this information to reduce or eliminate messages sent to a user.
Some internet browsers may be configured to send “Do Not Track” signals to the online services that you visit. We currently do not respond to do not track signals.
If you choose to use any of the links we provide to Blue Plans, sponsors, and other third party resources, you will be leaving our Service and going to a new web site. Protection of your privacy at those other sites will be governed by the privacy policy at that site. We’ve taken special care selecting the companies that are accessible through BCBS.com to try to ensure that they respect your privacy as we do, but please take the time to read the privacy policies at their sites.
We understand the importance of protecting children’s privacy in the interactive world. We do not use the Service to knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of thirteen (13) without parental consent. If you are a child under 13 years of age, you are not permitted to use the Service and should not send any information about yourself to us through the Service.
In the event that we become aware that we have collected Personal Information from any child, we will dispose of that information in accordance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and other applicable laws and regulations. If you are a parent or guardian and you believe that your child under the age of 13 has provided us with information without your consent, please contact us at bcbswebmaster@bcbsa.com, and we will take reasonable steps to ensure that such information is deleted from our files.
If we make any changes to this Privacy Policy, we will let you know the effective date of the changes and you can contact our Webmaster if you would like to know more about what’s new. If you have any questions or comments or receive any unwanted e-mail from this Service, please contact our Webmaster via e-mail at webmaster@bcbsa.com. Questions regarding the privacy policy of your independent, local Blue Cross and Blue Shield company should be directed to that company.