Blue Cross
Blue Shield
Redesigning a health insurance app to be calm, navigable, and actually useful.
Health insurance apps make people feel worse
BCBSMA is used by everyone from college students to retired elderly — making it a critical tool for accessing benefits, finding doctors, and managing claims. Yet reviews of the app were consistently scathing: basic tasks were hard to execute, navigation was full of dead ends, and the interface felt designed for the app, not the user.
The question I set out to answer: how do we streamline finding doctors, making claims, and accessing plan benefits — especially for users who struggle with dense, unintuitive apps?
Fix the two root causes
After reviewing user feedback, I identified two core problems: a cluttered home page that overwhelmed on first open, and a navigation system riddled with dead ends and button loops. The redesign addressed both — surfacing what people actually needed upfront, and reorganizing the information structure so every path led somewhere.
Five steps from problem to product
Identifying user pain points
As a self-led case study, I relied on App Store and Google Play reviews to surface pain points at scale. The feedback was consistent and damning.
Awful.
★☆☆☆☆ RDUPUIS
"The app, when it can't do something for you, will hand you over the website which will then route you back to the app — completing the loop."
Terrible user interface.
★☆☆☆☆ ATOMIC DRAGON
"Unable to do simple tasks without encountering a bug. Logging in was a nightmare — after that, finding plan information was just going through menu after menu."
Remarkably unhelpful.
★☆☆☆☆ ANONYMOUS
"Finding a doctor is even more frustrating on desktop. The act of fighting with this app's completely non-intuitive layout is comically futile."
The Main Problems
From the reviews, the main problems were clear: the app's unintuitive layout and disorganized information structure. It took users 7+ screens to find their plan benefits — and the app required re-login every session, with navigation loops that sent users in circles.
Creating a new user flow
To solve the layout and information problems, I mapped a new user flow — grouping screens around the app's three main jobs: finding a doctor, accessing plan benefits, and making claims. Each path is direct with no dead ends.
Wireframes
Using the new user flow, I wireframed the main screens to validate navigation logic before committing to high-fidelity. The goal was to test structure first.
Usability testing
I ran the wireframes with actual BCBSMA users, asking them to complete four tasks: find a doctor, access their claims, view plan benefits, and locate their ID card. Two clear issues surfaced.
Users wanted the ID card on the home screen, not hidden behind a button
When opening the app, users expected to immediately see their ID card — not navigate to it through a button. They wanted it front and center.
Display the ID card prominently on the home screen
I moved the ID card to a prominent card on the home screen. Tapping reveals front and back, with Face ID support for sensitive plan details. Insurance plans are now color-coded for easy scanning.
Users couldn't browse all specialties when searching for a doctor
Typing a specialty freeform was unreliable — users worried they were missing sub-specialties they didn't know existed. They wanted a full browsable list.
Add a "See all specialties" button with alphabetical browsing
Under the search field, I added a "See all specialties" button that opens a full alphabetically-sorted list — so users can browse without guessing keywords.
More refinements across the app
Beyond the tested issues, I redesigned several other key screens to reduce visual noise and improve scannability. Hover each item to see the before & after.
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Medications
— Added medication images so users can quickly identify pills at a glance. Added member-selector tabs for family plans.
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Claims
— Replaced the dense Year-to-Date table with color-coded status chips (Pending, Completed) and summary totals at the top.
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Search filters
— Replaced the popup-within-popup filter system with an inline dropdown that stays in context.
Try the prototype
With usability issues resolved, I moved to high-fidelity screens in Figma and built out a fully interactive prototype. You can try it below — log in, search for a doctor, check your medications, and browse your claims. The interactions are all wired up.
Interactive Figma prototype — try it
What this demonstrates
This case study started from a real frustration: health insurance is already stressful, and its apps make it worse. The redesign shows how much a product experience can improve with focused structural thinking — better information architecture, clearer navigation, and a visual language that doesn't add to the anxiety.
The gap between "technically functional" and "actually good" is enormous in healthcare UX. This project is about closing that gap.