Having an expensive Blue Cross plan in Pennsylvania, while living 2, 000 miles away, is not practical.

FORBES: Shopping For Health Insurance Can Be An Adventure

Notably the new chair of AHIP as of July is from a tiny nonprofit Blue Cross plan in Tennessee, not exactly a captain of the industry.

FORBES: Big Five Insurers To Break With AHIP, Karen Ignagni--Really?

And in Michigan, the Blue Cross Blue Shield plan there is trying to convert to a mutual plan from nonprofit in what many observers see as a move that will not only allow them to more easily conduct business and grow through future acquisitions.

FORBES: Obamacare May Push Blue Cross Health Plans To Merge

Doug Bartel, with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, says the marketing plan for retail health coverage is not that different from cell phones.

NPR: Shopping For Health Insurance? Try The Mall

The Microsoft product tester worried that she was getting dehydrated and called a nurse hotline that's part of the company's plan with Premera Blue Cross.

FORBES: Dial-an-ER

The Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) product tester worried that she was getting dehydrated and called a nurse hotline that's part of the company's plan with Premera Blue Cross.

FORBES: Dial-an-ER