Posted on 07/24/2015 7:50:29 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
In another merger of health insurance giants, Anthem has agreed to acquire Cigna in a $54 billion deal.
Anthem (ANTM), a Blue Cross and Blue Shield insurer, said it would buy all of Cigna's (CI)shares in a cash and stock transaction.
The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2016, if it passes state regulatory approvals and other requirements. The merged insurer would cover 53 million members.
The merger would leave only three major players in the insurance industry.
Earlier this month, Aetna (AET) struck a deal to buy Humana (HUM) for $37 billion, which would cover 33 million members.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
There are/were 30 odd Blue Cross Blue Shield companies. Anthem is one, BC/BS Tennessee is another, Horizon is another, CareFirst is another.
Each Blue has a defined geographical area. They do not compete with each other.
The Blue Cross/Blue Shield Association, headquartered in Chicago, is the company that issues Licenses to the aforementioned companies so they can use the BC/BS Shield.
And no, the association does not own any of the other companies.
Don't be so sure. Some big health insurance companies have been hacked and they have announced that even clinical data could have been stolen. Also there has been news that Chinese hackers have also targeted health insurance companies.
The idea behind these mergers in the end will be the government taking over for the huge revenue’s they produce...it’s another ‘cash flow cow like’ healthcare and education and the banking institutes...it’s all about consolidating ‘revenue producing’ entities, has nothing to do with the people other than the dollars they put into them.
It is a form of nationalization. A true fascism which is the marriage of government and business.
It’s even bigger than Nationalization.........those who will be sitting at the World Governance table will need to have power than can weld...money is power...so all nations are positioning their countries for seats at that table. Wealth matters on the stage they’re all playing....
He switched jobs and despite my warnings to him that the healthcare was a huge consideration. We now have Cigna. We pay out the butt and it absolutely sucks. It's basically like not having any insurance and paying out the butt to not have it.
Everyone I am talking to is pretty much finding out the same thing. So, I can't say for certain if it is just that we have new crappy insurance or that all insurance now pretty much is useless.
30% chance you will be seen and whatever it is will be treated, the end.
30% chance whatever is wrong will just clear up on it's own.
30% chance you die waiting for treatment.
Well, I guess I feel better knowing that Cigna sucks now, too. And our Representatives tell us we are too far down the road to be able to reverse course. IS THERE ANYONE WHO WILL SAVE OUR COUNTRY AND OUR FREEDOMS?
Well, I don’t really know if I just have crappy insurance or if all insurance is now crappy. I switched right about the time all these changes were being put into action. I have a feeling it’s a little bit of both. I have crappy insurance and insurance is getting worse and worse for the people who actually pay for it.
BTW just because they are located in different states doesn't mean only your state BC/BS covers your state. My dad retired from Ma Bell under a non AT&T company after the break up. AT&T bought the company back and the retirements as well. His BC/BS company was in Illinois. The last place I worked had AT&T. It was a nursing home. The company dropped AT&T and became self insured and we had a lot better coverage.
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