---
title: "Blue Cross Blue Shield denial rate 18.1%: how to appeal"
url: "https://denialfacts.com/company/blue-cross-blue-shield"
publisher: "Axion Labs — Denial Facts"
checked: "2026-11-04"
dataset_fixity: "sha256-cda2f9b89c8dde2a74989a35dbe7c0d08ff35dac5456484dc1c03c1b181a67b6"
---

# Blue Cross Blue Shield denial rate: 18.1% of in-network claims. Here is their form, and your deadline.

Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees's appeal form and the deadline it has to be in by, from the date on your notice. Free, no account.

## Figures

| Figure | Value |
| --- | --- |
| National denial rate (this dataset) | 18.1% |
| Claims denied | 34,656,270 |
| In-network claims received | 191,709,742 |
| Entities reporting | 27 |
| States covered | 25 |
| National denial rate, all insurers | 15.7% |

## Every Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees entity in the file, with each one's page

| Entity | State | Denial rate | Claims denied | Page |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alaska | Alaska | 26.3% | 225,470 | https://denialfacts.com/insurers/premera-blue-cross-blue-shield-of-alaska--ak |
| Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City | Missouri | 24.5% | 26,133 | https://denialfacts.com/insurers/blue-cross-and-blue-shield-of-kansas-city--mo |
| BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee | Tennessee | 23.5% | 1,719,613 | https://denialfacts.com/insurers/bluecross-blueshield-of-tennessee--tn |
| Blue Cross and Blue Shield of NC | North Carolina | 21.4% | 4,465,115 | https://denialfacts.com/insurers/blue-cross-and-blue-shield-of-nc--nc |
| Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas | Texas | 21.1% | 13,945,257 | https://denialfacts.com/insurers/blue-cross-blue-shield-of-texas--tx |
| Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming | Wyoming | 20.4% | 333,000 | https://denialfacts.com/insurers/blue-cross-blue-shield-of-wyoming--wy |
| Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield West Virginia | West Virginia | 20.1% | 707,610 | https://denialfacts.com/insurers/highmark-blue-cross-blue-shield-west-virginia--wv |
| Highmark BCBSD Inc. | Delaware | 19.3% | 385,536 | https://denialfacts.com/insurers/highmark-bcbsd-inc--de |
| Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City | Kansas | 19.2% | 9,939 | https://denialfacts.com/insurers/blue-cross-and-blue-shield-of-kansas-city--ks |
| Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oklahoma | Oklahoma | 18.2% | 1,517,965 | https://denialfacts.com/insurers/blue-cross-blue-shield-of-oklahoma--ok |
| Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Carolina | South Carolina | 18.2% | 2,323,759 | https://denialfacts.com/insurers/blue-cross-and-blue-shield-of-south-carolina--sc |
| Wellmark Health Plan of Iowa, Inc. | Iowa | 18% | 745,842 | https://denialfacts.com/insurers/wellmark-health-plan-of-iowa-inc--ia |
| Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama | Alabama | 16.1% | 3,008,219 | https://denialfacts.com/insurers/blue-cross-and-blue-shield-of-alabama--al |
| Wellmark of South Dakota | South Dakota | 15.4% | 59,024 | https://denialfacts.com/insurers/wellmark-of-south-dakota--sd |
| Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Arizona, Inc. | Arizona | 14.6% | 116,772 | https://denialfacts.com/insurers/blue-cross-and-blue-shield-of-arizona-inc--az |
| Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida | Florida | 13.8% | 3,199,676 | https://denialfacts.com/insurers/blue-cross-and-blue-shield-of-florida--fl |
| Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Utah | Utah | 13.5% | 52,771 | https://denialfacts.com/insurers/regence-bluecross-blueshield-of-utah--ut |
| Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska | Nebraska | 13.3% | 106,584 | https://denialfacts.com/insurers/blue-cross-and-blue-shield-of-nebraska--ne |
| Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana | Montana | 13.1% | 219,509 | https://denialfacts.com/insurers/blue-cross-and-blue-shield-of-montana--mt |
| Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Mutual Insurance Company | Michigan | 12.2% | 248,492 | https://denialfacts.com/insurers/blue-cross-blue-shield-of-michigan-mutual-insurance-company--mi |
| Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas, Inc. | Kansas | 9.8% | 89,937 | https://denialfacts.com/insurers/blue-cross-and-blue-shield-of-kansas-inc--ks |
| Anthem Insurance Companies, Inc. | Indiana | 8.7% | 293,847 | https://denialfacts.com/insurers/anthem-insurance-companies-inc--in |
| Community Insurance Company | Ohio | 7.9% | 303,706 | https://denialfacts.com/insurers/community-insurance-company--oh |
| Healthy Alliance Life Insurance Company | Missouri | 7.3% | 171,959 | https://denialfacts.com/insurers/healthy-alliance-life-insurance-company--mo |
| Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota | North Dakota | 7.1% | 54,706 | https://denialfacts.com/insurers/blue-cross-blue-shield-of-north-dakota--nd |
| Compcare Health Services Insurance Corporation | Wisconsin | 7% | 202,277 | https://denialfacts.com/insurers/compcare-health-services-insurance-corporation--wi |
| Matthew Thornton Health Plan, Inc. | New Hampshire | 6.7% | 123,552 | https://denialfacts.com/insurers/matthew-thornton-health-plan-inc--nh |

## Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees, at the top of the page

Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees, national figures

Your two dates, free

Date on your denial notice

Who pays your claims?

A job, an insurance company pays the claims

A job, my employer pays the claims itself (self-funded)

A job, I do not know which

Marketplace / individual plan I bought myself

Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, VA or IHS

Which state?

The reason your letter gives

I'm not sure, I'll paste the sentence later

Not medically necessary
Provider out of network
Service excluded from the plan
Experimental or investigational
Referral required
Benefit limit reached
Member not covered
Administrative reason
Other reasons

Show my two dates, free

Put in the date on your Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees notice and get both federal deadlines as calendar dates.

Free, for a Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees denial, and it runs entirely in your browser. The date, the plan type and the state you pick are never sent to us and never stored.

That date runs from the day printed on the notice, not the day you opened it, and if your employer pays the claims itself, your external review does not go to your state at all.

Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees's own appeal form is free and it is linked below. What it does not tell you is when it has to be in.

Insurance got denied, what to do next?

We hear this most. [r/HealthInsurance, thread title](https://www.reddit.com/r/HealthInsurance/comments/1rdxwvi/insurance_got_denied_what_to_do_next/) , read September 3, 2026.

By [Axion Labs](/about) · August 19, 2026, updated November 4, 2026

Further down this page, after the free steps: the paid next step .

The number nobody else publishes, for this brand. Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees's reporting entities denied 18.1% of in-network claims in the federal file, 34,656,270 of 191,709,742, across 27 entities in 25 states, against a national average of 15.7%. That places Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees #3 of the 5 national brands this file carries enough volume to rank. That is Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees's own filed number, not our estimate.

The clock your letter has to describe, in actual dates

If Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees denied a claim of yours, two dates matter more than the percentage does. You have 180 days from the date on your denial notice to file the internal appeal, and then 4 months from the final internal denial to ask for an independent external review. If waiting would seriously jeopardize your health you can ask for both to be expedited, decided in about 72 hours . Both timeframes are federal, not your insurer's choice, [29 CFR 2560.503-1](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-29/section-2560.503-1) ( [PDF](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-2024-title29-vol9/pdf/CFR-2024-title29-vol9-sec2560-503-1.pdf) ) and [45 CFR 147.136](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-45/section-147.136) ( [PDF](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-2024-title45-vol2/pdf/CFR-2024-title45-vol2-sec147-136.pdf) ), in plain English at [HealthCare.gov](https://www.healthcare.gov/appeal-insurance-company-decision/internal-appeals/) , and your own denial letter states the ones that govern your plan. The PDFs are the same sections on govinfo.gov, which serves them without a challenge page, so an automated reader can check these two dates as easily as you can.

Data verified November 4, 2026 · CMS Transparency in Coverage Public Use File (PY2027 release, PY2025 claims), data.healthcare.gov — US Government public domain

You are not alone, and here is the measured version of that sentence: 34,656,270 in-network claims were denied by Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees in the states it files in in a single plan year. A denial rate is a fact about an insurer's book of business. It is not a judgment about you, and it is not the last word on your claim.

What to do tonight

- Find the reason code on your denial letter. It will name the specific Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees entity that decided it, not just the brand, and with 27 of them reporting into this file, that name is what tells you which row on this page is yours.

- Ask Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees for the clinical criteria they judged you against. Under [29 CFR 2560.503-1](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-29/section-2560.503-1) they have to hand you the claim file and the policy they applied, free, on request, and you cannot argue with a checklist you have never read.

- Put both deadlines on your calendar before you go to bed. 180 days from the date on the letter for the internal appeal, 4 months from the final internal denial for external review. The free calculator on this page turns your date into the two calendar dates in about ten seconds. 34,656,270 claims were denied across Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees's reporting entities in a single plan year; the deadline is what decides whether anyone reads the argument.

None of those three steps costs anything. Anyone charging you to do them is selling you something you can do yourself in twenty minutes.

After these free steps, the paid [Appeal Kit](/appeal-kit) is the same clock dated from your Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees notice, with the claim-file and external-review requests written out.

18.1%

National denial rate (this dataset)

34,656,270

Claims denied

27

Entities reporting

25

States covered

Read the number for what it is. These are the brand's reporting entities in the CMS Transparency in Coverage Public Use File, in-network claims for the plans that file there, not every line of the company's business. A brand's full book (employer self-funded plans above all) is not in this file. And the Blue Cross Blue Shield companies are independent licensees of a shared brand , not one insurer, this page combines them because that is how people search, and splits them entity by entity below.

## Every Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees entity in the file

| Entity | State | Denial rate | Denied |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alaska | Alaska | 26.3% | 225,470 |
| Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City | Missouri | 24.5% | 26,133 |
| BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee | Tennessee | 23.5% | 1,719,613 |
| Blue Cross and Blue Shield of NC | North Carolina | 21.4% | 4,465,115 |
| Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas | Texas | 21.1% | 13,945,257 |
| Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming | Wyoming | 20.4% | 333,000 |
| Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield West Virginia | West Virginia | 20.1% | 707,610 |
| Highmark BCBSD Inc. | Delaware | 19.3% | 385,536 |
| Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City | Kansas | 19.2% | 9,939 |
| Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oklahoma | Oklahoma | 18.2% | 1,517,965 |
| Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Carolina | South Carolina | 18.2% | 2,323,759 |
| Wellmark Health Plan of Iowa, Inc. | Iowa | 18% | 745,842 |
| Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama | Alabama | 16.1% | 3,008,219 |
| Wellmark of South Dakota | South Dakota | 15.4% | 59,024 |
| Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Arizona, Inc. | Arizona | 14.6% | 116,772 |
| Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida | Florida | 13.8% | 3,199,676 |
| Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Utah | Utah | 13.5% | 52,771 |
| Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska | Nebraska | 13.3% | 106,584 |
| Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana | Montana | 13.1% | 219,509 |
| Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Mutual Insurance Company | Michigan | 12.2% | 248,492 |
| Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas, Inc. | Kansas | 9.8% | 89,937 |
| Anthem Insurance Companies, Inc. | Indiana | 8.7% | 293,847 |
| Community Insurance Company | Ohio | 7.9% | 303,706 |
| Healthy Alliance Life Insurance Company | Missouri | 7.3% | 171,959 |
| Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota | North Dakota | 7.1% | 54,706 |
| Compcare Health Services Insurance Corporation | Wisconsin | 7% | 202,277 |
| Matthew Thornton Health Plan, Inc. | New Hampshire | 6.7% | 123,552 |

That table is why the headline is only half the story: Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees is #3 of the 5 national brands this file carries enough volume to rank, and its own entities do not all sit where the brand does. [The whole ranking is free here →](/denial-rates-by-company)

## Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees denied claim: the two dates that decide it

If Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees denied a claim of yours, the percentage above is not the thing to act on. Two dates are: generally 180 days from the date on the denial notice to file the internal appeal, then generally four months from the final internal denial to ask for the independent external review whose decision binds the plan. The tool at the top of this page works both out from your own notice, free. The rules are [29 CFR 2560.503-1](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-29/section-2560.503-1) and [45 CFR 147.136](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-45/section-147.136) .

## What Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees denies for

Top reason categories across its reporting entities: [other](/denial-reasons/other) (15,366,268) · [administrative](/denial-reasons/administrative) (7,224,349) · [service-excluded](/denial-reasons/service-excluded) (5,864,243). Reason-by-reason national context is on the [denial reasons](/denial-reasons) pages.

Work out your two deadlines

The federal timeframes: 180 days from the date on the denial notice to file the internal appeal, then 4 months from the final internal denial to request independent external review. Put your date in and get the actual calendar dates, with the days remaining.

Date on your denial notice

Which denial is this?

First denial (I have not appealed yet)

Final internal denial (my appeal was refused)

Show my deadlines

Runs entirely in your browser, the date you type is never sent to us and never stored. [Open the full calculator →](/appeal-deadline-calculator)

## Questions about Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees denials

##### What is Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees's denial rate?

18.1% of in-network claims, nationally, across the 27 Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees entities that report figures in the CMS Transparency in Coverage Public Use File, 34,656,270 of 191,709,742 claims denied. The national average across all insurers in this dataset is 15.7%. These are the brand's reporting entities in the CMS Transparency in Coverage Public Use File, in-network claims for the plans that file there, not every line of the company's business. A brand's full book (employer self-funded plans above all) is not in this file.

##### Which Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees entity denies the most?

By rate, Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alaska in Alaska at 26.3%; the lowest is Matthew Thornton Health Plan, Inc. in New Hampshire at 6.7%. A denial rate describes an insurer's book of business, not the merits of any one claim.

##### Does a high Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees denial rate mean my claim will be denied?

No. The rate describes the book of business. What matters for you: denials are appealable, the internal appeal is free, and external review, which is binding on the plan, is overturned in 22.2% (1,092 of 4,918; interval 22.2-23.8% for counts CMS withheld; 32.6% without SelectHealth) of cases nationally, yet only 4,918 were filed against 83,907,852 denials.

##### How do I appeal a Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees denial?

Two free stages, both created by federal law: the internal appeal (generally 180 days from the denial notice) and then independent external review (generally four months from the final internal denial). Your denial letter names your exact route and deadlines, it is the authority. Our free deadline calculator works them out from your letter's date.

Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees files through 27 separate reporting entities in this file, and they do not all behave the same way. A brand headline hides both ends of the spread. The same company can run twice the denial rate in one state as it does in another, which is why the entity table on this page matters more than the percentage at the top of it. Find your own state's row, then read that entity's page, that is the number your letter came out of.

Axion Labs · hello@getaxionlabs.com

[Show my two dates, free](/appeal-letter)
No account, no email, no card. Both federal deadlines dated from your notice, and the body that decides your case at the end.

Problem solved: You have their form and you have the date it has to be in by, and you know which body reviews it at the end.

Where these numbers come from The Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees figures on this page are the sum of its 27 reporting entities’ own rows in that file, 34,656,270 denials out of 191,709,742 in-network claims.

Counts: [CMS Transparency in Coverage Public Use File (PY2027 release, PY2025 claims), data.healthcare.gov — US Government public domain](https://data.healthcare.gov/) . Rights and timeframes: [29 CFR 2560.503-1](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-29/section-2560.503-1) (180 days, and your free right to the claim file) and [45 CFR 147.136](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-45/section-147.136) (4 months, and what qualifies), explained at [HealthCare.gov](https://www.healthcare.gov/appeal-insurance-company-decision/external-review/) . Expedited review is decided in about 72 hours under both sections.

Reading either regulation from a script rather than a browser: eCFR answers automated fetches with a challenge page, so the same two sections are mirrored as government PDFs at [govinfo.gov (29 CFR 2560.503-1)](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-2024-title29-vol9/pdf/CFR-2024-title29-vol9-sec2560-503-1.pdf) and [govinfo.gov (45 CFR 147.136)](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-2024-title45-vol2/pdf/CFR-2024-title45-vol2-sec147-136.pdf) .

This page presents federal statistics and a general description of appeal rights created by federal law. It is not legal, medical, or insurance advice, and no outcome is guaranteed. Your denial letter and plan documents govern your specific case. Free help is available from your state's Consumer Assistance Program and from the federal Marketplace at HealthCare.gov.

## The pages that answer the next question

- [Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alaska in Alaska](/insurers/premera-blue-cross-blue-shield-of-alaska--ak) , the Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees entity with the highest reported rate in this file at 26.3%, 225,470 claims denied.

- [Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City in Missouri](/insurers/blue-cross-and-blue-shield-of-kansas-city--mo) , the Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees entity with the highest reported rate in this file at 24.5%, 26,133 claims denied.

- [Alabama: who to call, and the route](/states/alabama) , Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees files there; this is the state's own consumer line and its external-review route.

- [Alaska: who to call, and the route](/states/alaska) , Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees files there; this is the state's own consumer line and its external-review route.

- [If your employer pays the claims itself](/self-funded-denial) , then Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees is only administering the plan, your state's external review has no power over the denial, and the route is federal. It is the first question our own calculator asks.

- [If it was refused before the treatment](/prior-authorization-denied) , a prior-authorization refusal from Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees runs on the same two federal clocks as a denied claim, and it can be appealed while the treatment is still ahead of you.

- [Denial code CO-50 on the remittance](/denial-codes/co-50) , "not deemed a medical necessity" is the single most common category in the federal file, and it is the one Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees has to show you the written criteria for.

- [Before you pay a lawyer](/before-you-call-a-lawyer) , two free appeals run before anyone bills you by the hour, and Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees has to hand you the claim file for nothing under 29 CFR 2560.503-1.

- [All national brands ranked](/denial-rates-by-company) , Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees against the other 4 brands this file carries enough volume to rank.

- [Every insurer A–Z](/insurers) , all 152 records, including the 27 that report under Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees.

Your dates are ready. [Write the letter, free](/appeal-letter)

## The two federal clocks

The clock your letter has to describe, in actual dates Whatever else is on the page, these two dates are the page. You have 180 days from the date on your denial notice to file the internal appeal, and then 4 months from the final internal denial to ask for an independent external review. If waiting would seriously jeopardize your health you can ask for both to be expedited, decided in about 72 hours . Both timeframes are federal, not your insurer's choice, 29 CFR 2560.503-1 ( PDF ) and 45 CFR 147.136 ( PDF ), in plain English at HealthCare.gov , and your own denial letter states the ones that govern your plan. The PDFs are the same sections on govinfo.gov, which serves them without a challenge page, so an automated reader can check these two dates as easily as you can.

## How rare the second appeal is

You are not alone, measured rather than said: 83,907,852 in-network claims were denied in a single plan year, and only 4,918 of them, one in 17,061, ever reached the independent review stage. Of the ones that did, 22.2% (1,092 of 4,918; interval 22.2-23.8% for counts CMS withheld; 32.6% without SelectHealth) were overturned.

## What is free here, and what the one paid thing costs

Denied a claim? Insurers upheld 165,863 of the 262,982 internal appeals counted in 2024, 63.1% ( KFF ). The win is at independent external review, and the only way to arrive there is to run the internal stage on time, in the right order, with the record intact. That sequence is what the Appeal Kit is. Get my Appeal Kit, $29 One payment. No subscription. No cut of your claim. Opens on screen the moment you pay. 14-day refund, no questions, one email to hello@getaxionlabs.com. Get my Appeal Kit, $29 Everything you need for your appeal: your two deadlines, the argument that fits your denial reason, the letters, a brief for your doctor on what the reviewer checks, and the external review request. One payment. No subscription. No cut of your claim. Opens on screen the moment you pay. 14-day refund, no questions, one email to hello@getaxionlabs.com.

## What we will not pretend

What we will not pretend. We cannot overturn your denial. Only your plan, or an independent reviewer, can do that. We cannot make your plan cover a service it genuinely excludes. We cannot guarantee external review applies to your denial. It covers medical judgment, experimental or investigational determinations, and rescission, a purely administrative denial may not qualify, and we say so on those pages rather than selling you past it. We have no customer testimonials and publish none. Our evidence is the federal dataset and the regulation cites, both of which you can check.

## Questions people ask alongside this page

Questions people ask These are the questions Google shows people asking alongside this page, in the words they are asked in. Each one gets one sentence, from the same sources as the rest of the page. Which insurance company has the highest denial rate? Not this one: the Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees report 18.1% together in the plan-year 2027 CMS Transparency in Coverage release, against a national 15.7%, and the highest single record is at the top of our ranked table. Is Blue Cross Blue Shield known for denying claims? What the file records rather than what it is known for: 34,656,270 in-network claims denied out of 191,709,742 received across 27 reporting licensee records. Which health insurance has a less rejection rate? Rejection rate is denial rate, and plenty of records in this release report less than these licensees' 18.1%, our by-company table prints the whole range. Do most people accept Blue Cross Blue Shield? Which providers take a card is a network question the CMS file does not record, so we hold no figure for it; what it does record is these licensees reporting across 25 states in the plan-year 2027 CMS Transparency in Coverage release.

## Every page on this site

Home Start here Insurers By company States Denial reasons Use cases How to appeal Ranked by denial rate The external-review gap Write the letter, free Deadline calculator Self-funded plan? Prior authorization denied Medicare WISeR denial Denial code CO-50 Before you call a lawyer Attorney for a denied claim Your denial letter United Healthcare denying claims Time limits on a claim Appeal a Medicare denial About Editorial policy How we compare Privacy Terms For machines: llms.txt openapi.json changes.json the composed answer this page as markdown

## Which release these figures are

Which release these figures are Every number on this page is the plan-year 2027 Transparency in Coverage file, issued October 22, 2026, covering plan-year 2025 claims. This is the newest plan year CMS has published: there is no Transparency in Coverage file for a plan year after 2027. The dataset list is at data.healthcare.gov . A test in this site’s build fetches that list on every run and fails if CMS publishes a plan year we have not acknowledged here. Every earlier release, plan-year 2024, plan-year 2025, plan-year 2026, is kept alongside it so the record is visible rather than a single year’s snapshot; /about says what changed between them. From the plan-year 2024 release to the plan-year 2026 release, external reviews filed went from 2,336 to 5,881. Overturned reviews went from 32.8% in the plan-year 2026 release to 22.2% in plan-year 2027, or from 32.6% to 32.6% without SelectHealth. We do not compare filed or overturned counts across plan-years 2026 and 2027. Some issuers may have counted pre-service appeals in their 2026 cells.

## Where these numbers come from

Where these numbers come from Counts: CMS Transparency in Coverage Public Use File (PY2027 release, PY2025 claims), data.healthcare.gov — US Government public domain . Rights and timeframes: 29 CFR 2560.503-1 (180 days, and your free right to the claim file) and 45 CFR 147.136 (4 months, and what qualifies), explained at HealthCare.gov . Expedited review is decided in about 72 hours under both sections. Reading either regulation from a script rather than a browser: eCFR answers automated fetches with a challenge page, so the same two sections are mirrored as government PDFs at govinfo.gov (29 CFR 2560.503-1) and govinfo.gov (45 CFR 147.136) .

## Who publishes this

Denial Facts publishes federal data about health insurance claim denials. We are independent: not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting for any insurer, government agency, or review organization. We are not a law firm, a medical provider, or an insurance producer, and nothing here is legal, medical, or insurance advice. Data: CMS Transparency in Coverage Public Use File (PY2027 release, PY2025 claims), data.healthcare.gov — US Government public domain. Figures cover individual-market Qualified Health Plans on the federal Exchange and come from the plan-year 2027 release, issued October 22, 2026, covering plan-year 2025 claims. This is the newest plan year CMS has published: there is no Transparency in Coverage file for a plan year after 2027. See where the data comes from .

## Sources

- CMS Transparency in Coverage Public Use File (PY2027 release, PY2025 claims), data.healthcare.gov — US Government public domain: https://data.healthcare.gov/
- 29 CFR 2560.503-1 (180 days, and your free right to the claim file): https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-29/section-2560.503-1
- 45 CFR 147.136 (4 months, and what qualifies): https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-45/section-147.136
- HealthCare.gov on external review: https://www.healthcare.gov/appeal-insurance-company-decision/external-review/

Cite: Axion Labs — Denial Facts, "Blue Cross Blue Shield denial rate 18.1%: how to appeal", https://denialfacts.com/company/blue-cross-blue-shield (checked 2026-11-04). free to quote with the URL.