Eligibility Requirements

How we keep costs down

In an effort to keep our premium rates affordable, our health care plans are medically underwritten by BCS Life Insurance Company and administered by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM). You will be asked to complete a family health statement and additional information from your physician(s) may be required. Based on the medical information provided, your application will either be accepted or rejected. If accepted, you will most likely be given the "preferred" rate for coverage. However, if you smoke or have more serious or chronic health conditions, you may be given the "standard" rate for coverage which is slightly higher.

Health care costs rise as our membership ages. Therefore, rates are lowest for applicants under 35 and increase marginally with each age band. Even at their peak, our rates are comparable to, if not lower than, our competitors.

Eligibility requirements

To qualify for coverage, you must meet all of the following criteria:

Be a Farm Bureau member.
Be a Michigan resident and live in the state for a minimum of six months each year.
Not eligible for BCBSM group coverage through an employer.
You do not have Medicare, Medicaid, group or any other coverage.
Have not had prior Farm Bureau sponsored BCBSM health coverage that canceled within the past year.
Family members must be on the same BCBSM contract.

Eligible dependents

Applicants to all health plans except the Young Member Blue PPO plan are eligible for spouse and dependent coverage. Dependent children are covered through the end of the calendar year in which they turn 19 years of age if, and as long as, the subscriber continues to be covered under this plan and both of the following requirements are met:

They are related to you by birth, marriage, legal adoption or legal guardianship.
They are unmarried.

Coverage for dependent children may be extended beyond the end of the calendar year in which they turn 19 years of age if, and as long as, the subscriber continues to be covered under this plan and all of the following requirements are met:

They are related to you by birth, marriage, legal adoption or legal guardianship.
They are between 19 and 25 years of age.
They are unmarried.
They live with you (unless they reside somewhere else temporarily, as in the case of college students).
They receive more than half of their support from you.
They are full-time students for at least five months of the year or have a gross income of less than four times the personal exemption amount identified by the current IRS Code.