U.S. News Media Group and the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) have released their annual edition of America’s Best Health Insurance Plans. This annual list of health insurance places is published at the beginning of the open-enrollment season, when it’s time for employees in the USA to choose their health insurance coverage.

The 2009-10 America’s Best Health Insurance Plans rankings are based on “analysis of 135 aspects of prevention, treatment, and member satisfaction, including such items as how quickly patients receive needed care and how well a plan controls blood sugar in people with diabetes. The Best Health Insurance Plans guide also identifies 120 plans that chose to report no data.”

Here is this year’s Honor Roll, defined as the top 10 commercial plans, top 5 Medicare plans, and top 5 Medicaid plans:

  Top 10 Commercial Plans

  Rank  Plan Name                             Score Type      States

  1     Harvard Pilgrim Health Care           91.1  HMO/POS   Maine, Mass.
  2     Harvard Pilgrim Health Care of New
         England                              90.2  HMO/POS   N.H.
  3     Tufts Associated Health Maintenance
         Organization                         89.9  HMO/POS   Mass., N.H.,
                                                              R.I.
  4     Grand Valley Health Plan              89.4  HMO       Mich.
  5     Capital Health Plan                   89.0  HMO       Fla.
  6     Geisinger Health Plan                 88.6  HMO/POS   Pa.
  7     Fallon Community Health Plan          88.0  HMO/POS   Mass.
  8     Health New England                    87.9  HMO/POS   Conn., Mass.
  9     CIGNA HealthCare of New Hampshire     87.7  HMO/POS   N.H.
  10    Group Health Cooperative of South
         Central Wisconsin                    87.6  HMO       Wis.

  Top 5 Medicare Plans

  Rank  Plan Name                                Score  Type   States

  1     Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of
         Colorado                                 89.0   HMO    Colo.
  2     Fallon Community Health Plan              88.8   HMO    Mass.
  3     Geisinger Health Plan                     88.1   HMO    Pa.
  4     Tufts Associated Health Maintenance
         Organization                             88.0   HMO    Mass.
  5     Capital Health Plan                       87.6   HMO    Fla.

  Top 5 Medicaid Plans

  Rank  Plan Name                               Score   Type   States

  1     Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of
         Hawaii                                  89.4   HMO     Hawaii
  2     Boston Medical Center HealthNet Plan     89.3   HMO     Mass.
  3     Fallon Community Health Plan             89.3   HMO     Mass.
  4     Neighborhood Health Plan                 88.2   HMO     Mass.
  5     Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Rhode
         Island                                  87.7   POS     R.I.

The full rankings of America’s Best Health Insurance Plans are available