Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Blue Cross Blues
Blue Cross Blue Shield calls me once a month and offers to rescue my company from high insurance rates that other carriers charge. I hold BCBSNC in pretty low regard, so it is not too hard to give them reasons they will not be getting our business. Today I went with reasons #1 and #2.
1) We have a recent cancer case within our group, so after BCBSNC wastes our time collecting data, they will tell us they cannot provide insurance to us.
2) In 1992, I had to have minor oral surgery. BCBSNC had no oral surgeons in their network in Guilford or Forsyth counties, so I had the surgery in Greensboro. They deemed my service out of network and covered only $17.50 of a $250.00 bill.
I gave them the opportunity to reconsider how they handled my case, considering they were risking a 75 employee account. They fumbled the ball a second time, and we moved the business to another carrier at the next renewal.
3) Blue Cross has always been a not-for-profit entity exempt from almost all income tax. They have accumulated over $1 billion in assets. Some of their greedy executives attempted to convert to for-profit status a few years ago, which would have allowed them to own the company and take a large slice of those assets.
Part of being a not-for-profit is a trust with the public that your entity exists for the common good. The proposed conversion would have amounted to the executives stealing past unpaid taxes from the public coffers. Martin Eakes led the fight to block the conversion. As usual, he represented the greater public interest well.
It's pretty easy not to do business with Blue Cross.
1) We have a recent cancer case within our group, so after BCBSNC wastes our time collecting data, they will tell us they cannot provide insurance to us.
2) In 1992, I had to have minor oral surgery. BCBSNC had no oral surgeons in their network in Guilford or Forsyth counties, so I had the surgery in Greensboro. They deemed my service out of network and covered only $17.50 of a $250.00 bill.
I gave them the opportunity to reconsider how they handled my case, considering they were risking a 75 employee account. They fumbled the ball a second time, and we moved the business to another carrier at the next renewal.
3) Blue Cross has always been a not-for-profit entity exempt from almost all income tax. They have accumulated over $1 billion in assets. Some of their greedy executives attempted to convert to for-profit status a few years ago, which would have allowed them to own the company and take a large slice of those assets.
Part of being a not-for-profit is a trust with the public that your entity exists for the common good. The proposed conversion would have amounted to the executives stealing past unpaid taxes from the public coffers. Martin Eakes led the fight to block the conversion. As usual, he represented the greater public interest well.
It's pretty easy not to do business with Blue Cross.
