What is a BCBSIL Silver Level Plan?

BCBSIL is a trusted brand across the state of Illinois. With a strong network of providers across the state, you can feel confident in your care options. 

With a Silver level health insurance plan, you're helping you and your family balance the costs of care and the monthly costs of your plan.

The metallic, or metal, levels represent different levels of health insurance plan coverage established through the Affordable Care Act. They help simplify your options and offer different levels of cost for a plan.

When you enroll in a health insurance plan with BCBSIL, you'll want to first choose your plan type. For example, you might want a PPO plan. Then, you'll need to choose your metal tier based on how much you want to pay each month and when you need health care.

A Silver health insurance plan is a mid-tier ACA Marketplace plan that covers approximately 70% of your health care costs, leaving you responsible for the remaining 30% through copays, coinsurance, and your deductible. Silver plans sit between Bronze (lower premiums, higher out-of-pocket costs) and Gold (higher premiums, lower out-of-pocket costs). Silver is the only metal tier eligible for cost-sharing reductions, which can lower your out-of-pocket costs if your household income qualifies. 

Only Affordable Care Act (ACA) plans, also known as individual and family or Marketplace plans, have metal tiers. The metallic levels were made available in 2014 to help make health care prices and coverage simpler and easier to understand.

A plan's metal tiers all cover the same service, have the same networks and offer the same benefits, just at different costs. You can also expect all levels to cover ACA essential benefits, like emergency services and hospitalization, prescription drug coverage and more.

A metal level (Bronze, Silver or Gold) describes how you and your health plan share the cost of covered care. It can affect your monthly premium, deductible and what you pay when you receive care.

A plan type describes how you access care and which providers you can see. Common plan types include:

• HMO (Health Maintenance Organization): Uses a defined provider network and generally requires you to choose a primary care provider who coordinates your care.
• PPO (Preferred Provider Organization): Offers more flexibility to see providers in or outside the plan’s network, generally without a referral to see a specialist.
• POS (Point of Service): Combines features of HMO and PPO plans, with a primary care provider coordinating care and some coverage for out-of-network providers.

Metal level and plan type work together, but they mean different things. When comparing plans, consider both how costs are shared and how you prefer to access care.

For more information on plan types, visit our Help Center..

​​When you’re looking for a new health plan, you'll be able to find your available plans and their monthly costs on our shopping platform. The plans you can enroll in are determined by your ZIP code.  Your recommended plan is based on things like your premium tax credit savings, how often you plan on using your benefits, who your preferred doctor is and if you have prescriptions you'd like covered.

​With BCBSIL, you can find available plans and their costs by adding your information, like name and ZIP code, to our online shopping platform .

​Understand how health insurance costs work together.

You may be able to, depending on the time of year and if you've gone through a recent life change!

There are two “seasons” for Individual and Family health insurance enrollment, each with different guidelines for enrolling in a new health plan. 

• Open Enrollment Period: During Open Enrollment, you’re free to pick a new Individual and Family plan. You don’t have to go through any life changes like you do during Special Enrollment. Open Enrollment starts Nov. 1 and typically lasts just over 2 months, ending Jan. 15. 

• Special Enrollment Period: During Special Enrollment, you can choose a new health plan if you’ve gone through certain life changes that affect your coverage. Some of the more common events are losing or changing jobs, getting married, having or adopting a child or moving. Learn more about the Special Enrollment period.

Most of your plan’s benefits can be found in your Summary of Benefits (SBC). There, you’ll find a brief breakdown of your plan’s costs, covered services, benefits, and more. If you're already a member with BCBSIL, you can also log in to your member account   to access your plan details.

As a BCBSIL member, you’ll have more than just the benefits covered in your plan – you’ll get savings on health and wellness costs with Blue365^®, guidance for your health journey through the Go WellBeing^® portal and more.  Learn more about benefits.