Free Republic

Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) will suspend its donations to lawmakers who opposed the Electoral College count after rioters stormed the Capitol building. BCBSA President and CEO Kim Keck announced on Friday that the federation of 36 health insurance companies would no longer provide financial contributions to these congressional members through its political action committee that is “supported solely by employee contributions.” “At the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, we continuously evaluate our political contributions to ensure that those we support share our values and goals,” Keck said in a statement. “In light of this week’s violent, shocking assault...

It’s all downhill from 27, new research reveals. At least if you’re a millennial, chronic conditions and diseases start to rear their heads in your late-20s, and from there things continue to deteriorate, according to a new Blue Cross/Blue Shield report. Millennials as a generation are in overall poorer health than their predecessors, Gen X-ers, with higher rates of depression, hyperactivity, substance misuse, type 2 diabetes and Crohn’s disease, among other chronic conditions. The report authors warn that the healthcare community needs to be aware that millennials are facing growing and perhaps unprecedented health concerns that could cost them years...

AUSTIN, Texas -- Doctors are criticizing Texas' largest health insurance provider for a controversial new billing process. Blue Cross Blue Shield announced that starting June 4, Texans who go to an out-of-network ER might have to pay all of the costs themselves if the visit isn't not deemed to be necessary. "This will create deaths. This will kill people. People will die because of this. This for sure will cause people to think twice and not go to the emergency room,” said Dr. Lonnie Schwirtlich, an ER doctor and member of the Texas Association of Freestanding Emergency Centers. The Texas...

Since everyone's still buzzing about Monday night's debate seen 'round the planet, I figured I'd offer some counter-programming. Hillary Clinton has said on multiple occasions that Obamacare is "working," but that it needs some "fixes" such as an even bigger government role and more taxpayer funding. Just last week, Harry Reid claimed that Americans who read the news know that the law has been a positive for the country. (Click through on those links for our detailed rebuttals at the time). The ongoing reality is that this failed, unpopular, party-line policy experiment is collapsing under its own weight. The latest...

The partial withdrawal of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota from the ObamaCare marketplace, driven out by staggering financial losses, is another important milestone in the collapse of the ill-conceived and inaccurately named Affordable Care Act. Providers have been bailing out of ObamaCare across the land, but not Blue Cross/Blue Shield providers. It’s not a total departure from the market, as CEO Michael Guyette took pains to explain at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune: In a sign of continuing tumult in the health insurance industry, the state’s largest insurer said Thursday it will no longer offer its traditional suite of flexible...

After raising its premiums for coverage on the Obamacare exchange by 36.3 percent for 2016, the state's dominant health insurer is heralding another increase of the "same order of magnitude" for 2017. BlueCross BlueShield claims it lost more than $150 million in 2015 when its rates were among the lowest in the land. But the 36.3 percent increase for 2016, the largest of any state, brings Tennessee rates to just about the national average. So how on Earth can costs be going up so exponentially to justify such a rate increase on the part of a nonprofit insurance company whose...

Health Care: The insurance industry must be kicking itself for backing ObamaCare. Several have since posted big losses and it looks like Blue Cross Blue Shield got the losing end of the stick, too.

Even Obamacare losses are bigger in Texas. So who’s to blame — Washington or ourselves? About 10 million Americans, including 1 million in Texas, get health insurance through the exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act. Those customers, along with the expansion of Medicaid in most states, added $86 billion in annual revenue for insurers nationwide. Unfortunately for them, most of the business has been a money-loser. And Texas’ largest insurer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, has been hit hard — over twice as hard, in fact.

When setting premiums for next year, insurers baked in bigger-than-usual adjustments, driven in large part by a game-changing rule: They can no longer reject people with medical problems. Popular in consumer polls, the provision in the health law transforms the market for the estimated 14 million Americans who buy their own policies because they don’t get coverage through their jobs. Barred from denying coverage, insurers also can’t demand higher rates from unhealthy people and those deemed high risks because of conditions including obesity, high blood pressure or a previous cancer diagnosis. But the provision also adds costs. To a larger...

May 3, 2013 – When the dust settled and the insurers announced their proposed rate requests for Oregon’s insurance exchange, the state’s largest health insurer – Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon – decided to back away. That decision came on the heels of Regence having the highest enrollment last year compared to its rivals -- 472,902 members – just slightly ahead of Kaiser Permanente – which had 464,637 members. ... Onlookers came away stunned. Regence had been at the table all along, testifying in favor of the exchange during legislative hearings and had staff attending work sessions organized by Cover...

FARGO – The Obama administration asked North Dakota’s largest health insurer not to publicize how many people have signed up for health insurance through a new online exchange, a company official says. During a Monday forum in Fargo for people interested in signing up for coverage via the exchange, James Nichol of Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota told the crowd his company received the request from the federal government earlier Monday. Nichol is a consumer sales manager for the company. Still, a spokeswoman from Blue Cross Blue Shield says about 14 North Dakotans have signed up for coverage...

Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Tennessee (BCBST) is warning that its customers will face sticker shock with premiums next year because of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as “Obamacare.” Many of the 2010 law’s key provisions kick in next year, including the requirement for all Americans to have health insurance. BCBST, the state’s largest insurance provider covering more than 3 million Tennesseans, is projecting that individual policy holders will see average premium increases around 30 percent, while small group customers will pay about 10 percent more. Large employers will see a 3 to 5 percent spike, BCBST officials said.

The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association is hammering back at President Obama’s proposal to give the federal government new power to review, and potentially block, health insurance premium increases. Mr. Obama included the proposal in his version of comprehensive health care legislation released by the White House on Monday. It comes in response, in part, to premium increases of up to 39 percent recently announced by Anthem Blue Cross of California for nearly 700,000 beneficiaries. In a statement, the Blue Cross association said it shares Mr. Obama’s goal of trying to control soaring health care costs, but that Mr....

Report: Irons Paid $70,000 As Broker For CVS Health Plan Irons Paid By Blue Cross POSTED: 7:39 AM EST January 14, 2004 UPDATED: 11:04 AM EST January 14, 2004 PROVIDENCE -- Former Senate President William Irons pocketed $70,000 from Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island while brokering a CVS employee health insurance policy. That's according to federal documents obtained by The Providence Journal. The documents show that Irons was paid $28,000 in the fiscal year ending May 2002 and $42,000 in the fiscal year ending May 2001. The records were filed with the U.S. Department of Labor...

The movement to pressure all-male Augusta National Golf Club, site of The Masters, into admitting a woman as a member has taken an unexpected turn that prompts the question: Where will it all end? Augusta chairman Hootie Johnson fired the latest salvo when he announced in a statement the 2003 Masters would be telecast by CBS without sponsors to keep those sponsors free from pressure. Citigroup, Coca-Cola and IBM had one-year contracts for 2002. Johnson says the move was in response to what he calls a corporate campaign against The Masters and Augusta National by the National Council of Women's...