Blue KC Announces Retirement of Chief Marketing Officer: October 2009

October 29, 2009

Kansas City, MO.—Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City (Blue KC) today announced that Roger Foreman, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, will retire from the company at the end of this year. Mr. Foreman has been with Blue KC for 38 years and has been over the marketing and underwriting divisions for the last 14 years.

"We are losing a marketing wizard who has led our company to the number one position in this highly competitive market. We will miss his talent, his wisdom and his steady hand," said Tom Bowser, President and CEO of Blue KC. "While we wish Roger great health and happiness in his retirement, he leaves us with a well trained team that consistently delivers to our members and to our brokers who help us produce top-rated service. We will miss the man, but his legacy will live on."

Foreman began his career with Blue KC in 1971 and has served as the company's Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer since January 2005. Prior to holding this position, he served in a variety of marketing and sales positions within the company.

Foreman made many significant enhancements to the company during his tenure here, too numerous to mention them all, however he will be best remembered for these key contributions:

He implemented the ChamberCHOICE program with the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, bringing affordable insurance choice and coverage to small groups across the area. Currently, ChamberCHOICE provides affordable, dependable insurance to 6,000+ small groups and nearly 60,000 individual members.

Foreman was instrumental in developing and supporting a broker distribution network across the area, enabling the company to better serve and retain its group and individual clients via this broker network.

He brought a greater concept of choice to the group market by developing a broad portfolio of insurance products, including HMO and PPO packages; base and buy-up packages; and ancillary products and services. These products and combined packages allowed employers to offer more choices in coverage to their employees.

Foreman first introduced the idea of developing a comprehensive, turnkey health and wellness program for our group clients. Since its inception in 2005, our A Healthier You program has grown to serve more than 220 large employers and 130,000 members in 38 states and 125 cities around the country. While still a growing program, early results of the A Healthier You program show great promise, including increased wellness scores, decreased health risk levels and overall medical cost savings.

"I am most pleased with the significant business growth this company has experienced, especially over the past decade. We are nearing $2 billion in annualized revenues and now serve almost one million customers," exclaimed Roger Foreman, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. "This kind of success is a testament to the great Blue Cross team and brokers I've had the privilege of working with all these years. It's been my pleasure to work with all of you."

Danette Wilson, Senior Vice President of Large Group, Marketing and Underwriting, and Torre Nigro, Senior Vice President of Small Group & Consumers and Membership, will continue to report to David Gentile, President and CEO-Elect, upon Foreman's retirement.

About Blue KC

Blue KC, the largest not-for-profit health insurer in the state and the only not-for-profit health insurer in Kansas City, has been part of the Kansas City community since 1938. Blue KC provides health coverage to nearly 900,000 residents in the greater Kansas City area and Northwest Missouri. Blue KC is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. For more information on our company, visit our website at www.BlueKC.com. Our mission statement: We will use our role as the area's leading health insurer to provide affordable access to healthcare and to improve the health and wellness of our members.

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