Business
S.C. Blues plan opens retail store
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Feb. 16, 2009
Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina has opened a retail location, called SC BlueStore, where it will sell health insurance. The store opened Jan. 23 in Mount Pleasant, S.C., on a commercial strip just outside Charleston.
According to a company news release, customers can buy or ask questions about individual health insurance for seniors, adults and children, and can visit a "wellness station" where they can check blood pressure levels and receive a chair massage.
The Blues plan's spokesman Billy Quarles said the staff had helped more than 150 customers over the first two weeks the store was open.
"To date, our expectations ... have been exceeded," he said.
The store is at least the third retail shop opened by a Blues plan. Pittsburgh-based Highmark Inc., which operates a Blue Shield plan, opened two strip-mall stores called Highmark Direct in December 2008.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2009/02/16/bibf0216.htm.
