Administrator Spotlight: Health Care Service Corporation
September 30, 2025
Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC), licensed by Blue Cross Blue Shield for five states (IL, MT, NM, OK, TX), provides coverage to millions of Americans through their health plans. However, HCSC has established a wider, more national presence through many of its subsidiaries in the form of plan administrators, helping employers/sponsors manage their own self-insured health plans, allowing HCSC to assist customers far beyond their initial reach. Per the most recent Form 5500 filings and analysis of Schedule C data [1], over 1.5 million participants [2] were associated with self-insured Health welfare-benefit plans administered by HCSC, earning the company approximately $592 million (M) in related compensation. Operating as an administrator across 19 states, HCSC supports employers across a wide range of business sectors. HCSC’s top reported states’ compensation is presented in the chart below.
- HCSC’s biggest presence is in Illinois – the administrator’s home state – where the company has nearly 873,000 (K) participants across 86 employers/sponsors spanning 15 unique business sectors. More than half of these participants, or about 449K, are associated with unions and other workers’ groups in the Transportation/Warehousing (234K) and Construction (215K) sectors, generating a combined compensation of over $159M.
- AT&T (Information sector), headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, with over 104K participants and generating $35.9M in compensation, is the largest employer/sponsor in the state with health and welfare plans administered by HCSC. The Manufacturing sector – featuring companies such as Caterpillar, Texas Instruments, BP, and Phillips 66 – earned HCSC nearly $18.5M in total administrative services compensation from 9 companies, representing over 85K participants, within the state.
- Boeing, after relocating its Defense, Space and Security business unit’s company headquarters to Arlington, Virginia in 2022 [3], is HCSC’s sole employer/sponsor account in Virginia, representing over 190K nation-wide participants and $66.5M in total administrative compensation.
- HCSC administers plans for over 56K participants in Pennsylvania, earning $22.5M in compensation. Pennsylvanian employers/sponsors assisted by HCSC subsidiaries, including Luminare Health Benefits, formerly Trustmark Health Benefits, which was acquired by HCSC in 2022, include Constellation Energy Generation, Family Services Incorporated, and the National Elevator Industry Health Benefit Plan.
About this Data
Due to filing guidelines and companies with different fiscal year ends, this subset of Form 5500 data generally encompasses filings from 2023, with a smaller amount from 2022 and 2024, to reflect the most recent filings available. Municipalities and government-sponsored entities are exempt from filing the Form 5500. National and international employers may also offer coverage through insurers not located in the states mentioned above.
Note: MFA makes every effort to accurately aggregate filings properly but cannot guarantee 100% accuracy due to the lack of normalization within the filings. This also allows for potential duplicative data as employers may have multiple filings.
About 5500 Employer Health Plus
The data used in this analysis brief was obtained from Mark Farrah Associates' 5500 Employer Health Plus. This tool has been designed to simplify the analysis of employer health and welfare benefits including medical, dental, vision, disability, and other benefits. MFA’s 5500 Employer Health Plus uniquely focuses on health and ancillary benefits purchased by private sector employers and the relationships employers have with contracted insurers, administrators, and brokers. The user interface allows for both detailed and summary level data retrieval. Data sources include Form 5500 filings and related schedules for companies that indicate they provide health and welfare benefits.
About Mark Farrah Associates (MFA)
Mark Farrah Associates (MFA) is a leading data aggregator and publisher providing health plan market data and analysis tools for the healthcare industry. Our product portfolio includes Health Coverage Portal™, County Health Coverage™, 5500 Employer Health Plus, Medicare Business Online™, Medicare Benefits Analyzer™, and Health Plans USA™. For more information about these products, refer to the informational videos and brochures available under the Our Products section of the website or call 724-338-4100.
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[1] Information about benefit plans that are self-insured is generally reported in Schedule C. In many cases, the contracted carrier or TPA (third party administrator) generates this information for the employer. Schedule C provides details on fees associated with self-funded plans that exceed $5,000. Service provider fees are reported separately for direct compensation and indirect compensation arrangements. Although MFA’s data logic strives to eliminate filings that are primarily pension plan purposed, Schedule C does not include reporting of benefit contract types. Therefore, the compensation insights should be interpreted broadly as fees paid for contracts that may include health benefits.
[2] A single employee and/or their dependent(s) may be a participant in multiple health coverage products offered by an employer.
[3] “Boeing Names Northern Virginia Office Its Global Headquarters; Establishes Research & Technology Hub.” Boeing Company, 5 May 2022, investors.boeing.com/investors/news/press-release-details/2022/Boeing-Names-Northern-Virginia-Office-Its-Global-Headquarters-Establishes-Research--Technology-Hub/default.aspx.