I've had BC/BS for almost 20 years now through 2 different employers. My current policy is through Calif (Company HQ are there), though I live in Maryland. BC/BS has some internal thing where the costs are based on local rate structure. The entire local coordination is for the most part transparent to me. I have the PPO plan and can pretty much go to any doctor (specialist or not) with minimal co-pays so long as they're on the PPO list. With only 1 exception I've not encountered a doctor who is not in the PPO plan. Fortunately all the ones at my CF center and the entire medical system of Johns Hopkins are PPO providers. I can't comment on the other providers mentioned above. ~Juliet