editorial
If you have health insurance in North Carolina, chances are you are “covered” by Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina.
We say “covered” in scare quotes because the company — an independently operated subsidiary of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association — has a documented history of raising premiums or rescinding coverage for policyholders who become seriously ill. They also have a complaint against them filed by the NC Medical Society, which holds that BCBSNC “has engaged in numerous unfair and deceptive acts and practices designed to delay, deny, impede and reduce lawful reimbursement to NCMS physicians who are participating physicians in its networks.”
And earlier this year, BCBSNC came under fire for botching the state employee health plan, turning what was projected to be a $57 million profit into a $79 million loss. By “chances are,” we mean BCB- SNC has a near monopoly on health care coverage in the Old North State, insuring more than 72 percent of those of us who buy health insurance.
So when Families USA, a national non-profit, non-partisan organization that studies the health care industry, reported last week that in NC, health care costs have risen 97 percent since 2000, BCBSNC should absorb much of that blame — according to its own company website, BCBSNC “has increased its membership by nearly 100 percent between 2000 and 2007 and now serves more than 3.7 million members.”
Either way: According to the study, premiums for working families in this state went from $6,649 to $13,083 a year, a number which represents about half of state residents’ median pay, which in 2009 is just over $27,000.
Part of the problem is the near monopoly, which exists because under the current system each state has its own healthcare providers. In North Carolina four other companies offer health insurance: WellPath
Select, Cigna, Partners National and United Healthcare, though their
efforts combined account for less than a third of the total insured in
the state.
And the state-by-state method has not stopped Blue
Cross Blue Shield subsidiaries from garnering more than 50 percent of
the insurance policies issued in South Carolina, Louisiana, Rhode
Island, Michigan, Minnesota and Hawaii, and more than 70 percent of the
total in states like Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, New Hampshire,
Montana and Wyoming.
But Blue Cross Blue Shield is breaking no
laws, merely operating under the current system, a deck stacked
inexorably in its favor after years of successful lobbying, soft
legislation and false reform.
BCBSNC has publicly stated that
it supports a degree of health care reform, yet it has produced a
90-second commercial with company CEO Bob Greczyn stating its case
against governmentrun health care. Through its actions, BCBSNC has
demonstrated it is on nobody’s side but its own.
YES! Weekly chooses to exercise its right to express editorial opinion in our publication. In fact we cherish it, considering opinion to be a vital component of any publication. The viewpoints expressed represent a consensus of the YES! Weekly editorial staff, achieved through much deliberation and consideration.
