Aug. 13, 2025
Coming Soon: Blue Balance Funded Makeover
Applies to small group
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas is committed to our state’s small businesses. That’s why we are excited to announce major enhancements to our Blue Balance FundedSM (BBFSM) product, starting with Jan. 1, 2026. effective dates.
Enhancements include:
- Expanding down to five lives: BBF will go down to a minimum of five enrolled lives starting with Jan. 1, 2026, effective dates. (Maximum enrollment will remain at 50 enrolled lives.) This change applies to both new and existing groups who may qualify for a BBF proposal.
- Digital enrollment for new BBF sales: No. More. Paper. That’s right, starting with Jan. 1, 2026, new sales effective dates, quoting and enrolling a BBF group is going completely digital. This means no more paper forms to fill out and return – simply begin the enrollment process from your quote. We’ll take your digitally submitted information and generate electronic forms for your clients to sign via a fast and secure DocuSign process.
- The new digital enrollment tool is scheduled for release in early October, just in time to begin enrolling January groups.
- Run-out period expansion: We’re extending our existing run-out period from 12/24 to 12/60 to ensure we continue providing the best assurances to our small group clients that their finances are protected.
And if that wasn’t enough...
- Stop loss protection continues even if the group cancels off cycle.
- More benefit plan choices – expanding 100% and 80% coinsurance plans.
Additional enhancements to the existing group renewal process (for existing, fully insured groups moving to a BBF plan) are scheduled for early 2026. Don’t forget, it was previously announced that BBF to BBF renewal paperwork is now significantly reduced starting with November 2025 renewals.
More to come. Details about these enhancements and training opportunities will be announced in the near future. Continue to watch News from the Blues for additional updates and webinar registration opportunities.
In the meantime, more general information on the BBF product is available.
