Health Insurance 101: Intern insights from a summer at Blue Cross

For many college students, summer internships are a popular way to continue learning and gaining important skills through on-the-job training.

In June, Blue Cross welcomed 20 students as part of the 2025 Summer Internship Program. From Member Engagement and Information Technology to Sales Support and Business Intelligence, areas across the organization embedded interns into their teams to take on an array of special projects.

Interns also participated in interactive events to foster relationships, deepen their understanding of our Life@Blue culture and the health insurance industry, and equip them with tools for success in their professional and personal lives.
 

Interview with an intern

A senior at the University of Minnesota, Will Busse is majoring in strategic communications. He spent the last few months working on process documentation and data entry as an intern in the Client and Account Operations division.

To share more perspective on the intern experience at Blue Cross, Will interviewed Kylie Pesik, an actuarial intern and soon-to-be senior at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Kylie is majoring in statistics and actuarial science with a minor in business analytics. She is an aspiring actuary and passed her first actuarial exam, the Probability (P) Exam, which is an important step toward that goal. Here's their conversation:

What sparked your interest in actuarial science?
I really like numbers and problem solving, which helped lead me to actuarial science. I started college as a mechanical engineering major but decided that was not what I wanted to do. I talked with a professor at UMD, and he guided me towards the actuarial path. Taking and passing the Probability (P) Exam helped solidify that this was the direction I wanted to go.

How did your internship search lead you to Blue Cross MN?
It was definitely a long search for an internship! I wasn't exactly sure what I was looking for because there are so many different specialties within actuarial work. After reading up on Blue Cross, I felt like their values really fit with what I want in a company.

How would you explain the role of an actuary to someone outside of your field?
Based on my knowledge and experience, an actuary pulls member data and analyzes it over several years. This allows for trends to be seen and understood, which will ultimately aid in the pricing of plans for the upcoming year.

How do you assist the actuarial team as an intern?
I pull a lot of data using Structured Query Language (SQL) which is a standard language for storing, manipulating and retrieving data in databases and Statistical Analysis System (SAS) – a software for data management, advanced analytics, multivariate analysis, business intelligence, and predictive analytics.

I also put together presentations to support the team’s work, whether that’s a dashboard in Power BI which is a business intelligence and data visualization platform or a PowerPoint slide deck.

What’s something you’ve already learned about actuarial work this summer?
It's really helpful to be familiar with the data that you're working with. There's a lot of useful information that helps you guide the analysis and make sure that the calculations you're performing are correct, and that they make sense in context.

Has this internship changed your view of the actuarial profession?
A little bit. Honestly, I didn't know exactly what an actuary dealt with on a day-to-day basis, so it's been very insightful. I've also been able to learn the different technologies they use, as I've never used SQL before this summer. It's good to get that experience when looking for a job after graduation.

What areas of actuarial work are you most interested in exploring in the future?
I’m really enjoying working on the health side of things, so I feel like I would stick in that area, but I'm also open to whatever the future holds.

How has your experience been in the actuarial internship program?
It's been really good! I've enjoyed working with my team - especially my supervisor, Dane. I don't feel uncomfortable asking questions, even if they seem small. They definitely want me to grow and learn, and I really appreciate that.

What will be your biggest takeaway from this internship as you move into your future career?
Not being afraid to ask questions. That's how you improve, and how you understand what you enjoy doing. You can use that experience to help you in the future.

What advice would you give to future actuarial interns at Blue Cross?
Be patient with yourself. You are going to learn many new terms and skills and it will take some time to get comfortable using them. At the beginning of my internship, I was new to using SQL and had a lot of room for improvement. Through practice and asking questions, I have continuously become more confident with writing queries in SQL.