Blue Cross Blue Shield has never liked Affordable Care Act. Before it was even passed, the not-for-profit corporation used customers’ money to send out mailers and phone calls opposing health care reform. Now, they seem to be surreptitiously inserting themselves into the US Senate race by distributing misinformation about the cost of the program to their customers.
They sent out letters to 42,000 customers showing incorrect rates and blamed Obamacare. One letter opens with, “We are writing to tell you about your 2015 health plan. Good News: your heath plan is ‘grandfathered,’ which means it does not have to include many of the costly requirements of the Affordable Care Act.” Clearly, the largest insurer in North Carolina wants you to know that your rates are increasing because of health care reform, even if they are not.
What Blue Cross doesn’t tell their customers is that the North Carolina legislature is largely responsible for premium increases. When the legislature refused to set up state exchanges and expand Medicaid, they stifled competition and left more low-income people with health problems uninsured. In states that expanded Medicaid and set up exchanges, premiums either went down or increased minimally.
However, since the state is Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina’s largest customer, they apparently want to lay the blame on the Affordable Care Act and, ostensibly, Barack Obama and Kay Hagan, instead of the legislature whose poor decisions are costing their customers more money. They certainly don’t want to tell their customers that a state exchange would create more competition and cut into the monopoly they have in much of the state. And they also don’t want their customers to know that the increased premiums are protecting multi-million dollar salaries in a not-for-profit organization.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina needs to get out of the political game and get back to its core mission–providing affordable insurance to the people of North Carolina. If they want to fight for something, fight for lower premiums by urging the state to increase competition and expand Medicaid. It’s working in other states. It should work in ours, too.
Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >
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I have one of the “Good news” grandfathered health plans that excludes it from “many of
the costly requirements of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).” As one of the lucky ones, my premiums will only increase by $370/mo to over $900/mo! I planned to call BCBSNC tomorrow to ask if this was a joke or surely a mistake. I am a self-employed, 17-year customer of BCBSNC. The timing of the letter a week before the election did not go unnoticed. Actually, thank you BCBSNC. Because of your ludicrous and outrageous increase and continued anti-ACA wording, mistake or not, I will be seeking coverage elsewhere. Hopefully, I can find an alternative; last year BCBSNC was the only game in town in my county.
Pleased that you are standing your ground on what you wrote, Thomas. Beyond the curious timing of the 42,000 “erroneous” mailings, the wording that BC/BS chose in letters to all its insured re: rates smacks of taking a political stance. And the actual effect of the “mistake” letters on at least some potential voters was reported in the N&O article
Dear Dave of BCBS
Is it true BCBS has donated large amounts of money to North Carolina and other republicans? Is it safe to say these donations are intended to protect your companies interest in maintaining your monopoly? Is it not true that the ACA (Obama Care) would jeopardize ( by competition) the companies ability to squeeze the last buck out of the consumer? Failure to address each of these questions would assume they are true….
There is no doubt, the exchange would benefit the individual rate payer. But of course, as a matter of reality, the state of North Carolina legislature is more interested in making a political statement about Obama then serving the needs of this state for better and less expensive health care. It is time to put Democrats back in office, when ever and where ever possible. As the old saying goes absolute power is corrupting. Complete control of the entire state has been a demonstration in promoting special interests, like insurance companies and few others.
I’m on Blue Shield in California. After reading about this bullshit, I think I’ll see who else I can go with. David Kochman, please report that back to your superiors.
BCBSNC has worked hard to make the Affordable Care Act work for our customers. Whenever we have talked about the impact on costs, we have also talked about the subsidies, new benefits, and increased access to care – and we have been criticized by both the left and the right. Additionally, there are several factual errors in your post:
• The incorrect letters were a mistake due to human error. As soon as we discovered the error we informed media and social media.
• BCBSNC is not subsidized by taxpayers. We are fully taxed at all levels, last year we paid $118.3 million in federal, state and local taxes.
• BCBSNC President and CEO Brad Wilson has consistently spoken out in favor of Medicaid expansion, as recently as this week.
Thomas, I’d be happy to discuss this issue in more depth at your convenience and will send my contact information to you through the contact section of this blog.
David Kochman
BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina
How about that…I got four pages of human error, a $130.00/mo increase in premium, and the following opening sentence of the third paragraph; “Keeping the plan you have now delays requirements from the Affordable Care Act (ACA) which could significantly increase the monthly price of your plan.”
I’m not criticizing here David, I’m just telling you what my letter says verbatim. Now if all of that is false or erroneous, when should I expect the amended/corrected version?
Troy – Keep in mind that, while 42,000 letters had an error, most of the letters mailed last week were accurate. Customers who received an incorrect letter will receive an updated version in a few days. In the meantime, click the link below to learn how to tell if your letter is one of the 42,000, or call the number on the back of your insurance card.
http://blog.bcbsnc.com/2014/10/bcbsnc-rate-notice-mail-week-might-show-incorrect-rate/
“In a few days”, which is only coincidentally after the election. The only human error here is that Tillis didn’t report this as an in-kind campaign contribution.
Troy –
Keep in mind that most of the letters mailed last week had accurate information. The 42,000 customers who received incorrect information will receive a corrected letter in a few days. You can call customer service at the number on the back of your insurance card to learn whether you are affected.
(I had posted a previous reply with a link to a blog post explaining how to tell if your letter is one of the 42,000. That reply is awaiting moderation but will hopefully be published soon with the link.)
David
Thank you for the response. Frankly, looking at the premium increase, I’m hoping mine is one that is erroneous.
But I will remain vigilant to that link clearing moderation!
It is widely known that BCBSNC has lobbied NC Republican-lead legislature to keep to keep competition out of NC under ACA. How do you honestly explain this?
Thanks for responding, David. I removed the phrase “subsidized by taxpayers.”
Thats said, the point of the post stands. Blue Cross sent out letters to 42,000 people laying the blame for rate increases on the Affordable Care Act, even when the recipient wasn’t seeing much increase. And they sent those letters out just a week before one the most contested US Senate races in recent memory while one side has spent tens of millions of dollars on ads demonizing the Affordable Care Act. After twenty years in politics, I don’t believe a corporation as deeply ingrained in the state’s political culture as Blue Cross Blue Shield didn’t make that connection.
I never said that Mr. Wilson doesn’t support Medicaid expansion. However, if he does, the letter could have just as easily said that rates were going up because the state failed to expand Medicaid. Instead, it blamed “the costly requirements of the Affordable Care Act.” I’m quite certain that language was intentional.
Thank you for pushing the point Thomas. It does seem that “erroneous letters” included a bit more than a few typos. They must teach “deniability” in business school these days.
Exactly, Thomas. Nothing David has posted explains why the letters blamed the ACA while failing to point out impact of NC’s failure to expand Medicaid. If BCBS sees the benefits of expanding Medicaid in NC, why are they supporting candidates who are staunchly opposed to it?
Sorry, David, but your story simply doesn’t add up.
Yes, and BC/BS even sent out a press release last week mentioning increasing premium rates for the ACA insured. The of course did not give full information, i.e., leaving out the fact that ACA subsidies have not been factored in to what the ACA-insured would actually be paying. My insurance is via BC/BS in another state, and this NC NC/BS sort of politicized action just doesn’t happen in that state–nor should it.
“However, since the state is Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina’s largest customer, they apparently want to lay the blame on the Affordable Care Act and, ostensibly, Barack Obama and Kay Hagan, instead of the (STATE) legislature whose poor decisions are costing their customers more money. They certainly don’t want to tell their customers that a state exchange would create more competition and cut into the monopoly they have in much of the state. And they also don’t want their customers to know that the increased premiums are protecting multi-million dollar salaries in a not-for-profit organization subsidized by the taxpayers.” This is a reality, but it is extremely difficult for some folks to understand. These low information voters are the focus of the North Carolina Republican Party.