Highmark owns three vision companies - Davis Vision Inc., which provides managed-care vision benefits; DVSC Inc., which handles vision-insurance claims; and Viva, which distributes eyeglasses, including fancy designer shades.
"You have the relationship," Melani said in a recent interview in Philadelphia. "You can begin to cross-sell."
Besides their "Blue" insurance plans, both companies offer a variety of non-Blue plans and insurance services under various names across the nation.
On Wednesday, Melani and Independence Blue Cross chief executive Joseph A. Frick stopped by The Philadelphia Inquirer, part of a statewide media tour to promote their merger plans to editorial boards in hopes that they will nudge the Pennsylvania Insurance Department to approve the deal.
The proposed merger has had the support of Gov. Rendell, but is running into resistance from the Republican-led Banking and Insurance Committee.
Part of Frick and Melani's pitch is that they say the merger would generate $951 million in total over six years to be used to increase coverage for the state's uninsured, while stabilizing ever-rising premium costs to subscribers.
They estimate that $178 million of the $951 million will come from increased sales opportunities.
"There will be two big 'gets' for Pennsylvania," Melani said.
First, he said, profits from these businesses will accrue to the Blues' bottom line, some of which is used to finance state programs to cover for the uninsured and for other initiatives, such as Independence Blue Cross' support for nursing education or Highmark's $20 million pledge toward the construction of a free-standing children's hospital in State College.
