BCBSNC wants to help you save. Consider one of our new low cost plan options.  To help lessen the financial impacts of health care reform, BCBSNC has created several new plan options for 2014.

Blue Select is one of those plan options that provides smart choices and health savings.

Blue Select features a tiered network to help you save money. This plan offers:
+ A large network with two tiers of providers to choose from
+ Prescription drug requirements

For more information on health insurance coverage in North Carolina, please visit our website at www.nchealthplans.com or call our toll free number 888-765-5400 and speak with one of our professional agents. Our agency provides coverage for health insurance in North Carolina through Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC). It would be our pleasure to help you navigate through the Health Care Reform changes in accordance with the new regulations of Obama care. Call us for details.

Information from a BCBSNC publication on 8/12/13.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) announced today that they have filed the necessary documents with the North Carolina Department of Insurance (NCDOI) to allow most of its non-grandfathered individual customers to keep their current health plans for another year. Customers with Blue Advantage, Blue Advantage Saver, Blue Value and Blue Options HSA policies whose plans were in place as of Oct. 1, 2013 will be eligible to renew their plans.

The NCDOI will be responsible for reviewing and approving rates for these renewed plans. BCBSNC submitted a rate increase of 16.4 percent for its Blue Advantage plans; 22 percent for Blue Value and 23.6 percent for its Blue Saver and Blue Options HSA plans. 2014 plan premiums reflect changes in the cost of care for all non-grandfathered customers with individual BCBSNC plans. This includes the price of care as well as the quantity of services used by this pool of customers. New taxes and fees under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) – which also apply to these plans – also contribute to the increase.

BCBSNC expects to mail revised renewal notices to eligible customers by Dec. 1. These customers will be automatically renewed in their 2013 plan for another year or may choose an ACA-compliant plan, which might come with additional benefits and a subsidy.

Renewing 2013 plans will delay some of the more challenging consumer impacts of the ACA for another year and alleviate concerns of consumers who have had difficulty accessing the Exchange. Non-grandfathered customers will need to move to ACA-compliant plans for 2015.

This information was released by Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina 11/19/13.

For more information on health insurance coverage in North Carolina, please visit our website at www.nchealthplans.com or call our toll free number 888-765-5400 and speak with one of our professional agents. Our agency provides coverage for health insurance in North Carolina through Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC). Call us for details.

01 Aug 2013- BCBSNC Media Center

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) announced today that it will host the 2013 dotBlue conference. The annual symposium focuses on using the latest digital and web strategies to address the health insurance industry’s most pressing challenges. This year’s conference, titled Connecting the Dots, will focus on helping consumers understand and navigate health care reform.

The conference will take place at BCBSNC’s Durham campus from Oct. 23-25, 2013. Conference attendance is limited to Blue Cross Blue Shield Plan professionals.

Participating Blue Plans will be invited to present on relevant topics of their choice. In addition, attendees will participate in presentations about using the latest in web design and digital technology to address the changes coming to health insurance in 2014, including:

• Pursuit of the Virtuous Quantified Life
  • Presented by Robert D. Furberg, senior clinical informaticist at RTI International’s Center for the Advancement of Health Information Technology (more…)

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – From July 2011 to June 2012, Wake County officials documented more than 2,000 incidents of child abuse or neglect. As a step to help end this problem, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) will provide the SAFEchild Advocacy Center with an investment to help provide comprehensive medical evaluations to children who have been physically or sexually abused. SAFEchild is a nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating child abuse in Wake County.

“By supporting the SAFEchild Advocacy Center, we’re investing in North Carolina’s most important resource, our children,” said Kathy Higgins, BCBSNC vice president of corporate affairs. “The fantastic team at the Advocacy Center goes above and beyond to create a healing environment, and each staff member plays an important role in the health of our kids and our community.”

(more…)

WHEN APPLYING OR GETTING A QUOTE FOR YOUR BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD OF NORTH CAROLINA COVERAGE, SEE THE CHART BELOW TO HELP DETERMINE YOUR STATUS

Household Size – Annual household income

100% FPL                 250% FPL             400% FPL

1                                          $11,490                     $28,725                  $45,960

2                                          $15,510                     $38,775                  $62,040

3                                          $19,530                     $48,825                  $78,120

4                                          $23,550                     $58,875                  $94,200

5                                          $27,570                     $68,925                  $110,280

6                                          $31,590                     $78,975                  $126,360

7                                          $35,610                     $89,025                  $142,440

8                                          $39,630                     $99,075                  $158,520

ADD 4 EACH                 + $4,020                    + $10,050             + $16,080

ADDITIONAL PERSON

For more information on health insurance coverage in North Carolina, please visit our website at www.nchealthplans.com or call our toll free number 888-765-5400 and speak with one of our professional agents. Our agency provides coverage for health insurance in North Carolina through Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC). Call us for details.

If you applied in the past for Blue Cross Blue Shield Individual insurance or through another carrier and were declined due to medical ineligibility, we wanted to make you aware of new 2014 underwriting regulations through the Affordable Health Care Act, also known as Obamacare.  Under these new regulations, applicants who apply for coverage with a January 1^st or later effective date will no longer be underwritten with regards to their health or pre-existing conditions and therefore will be guaranteed issued with no rate increase for health conditions. The law also requires insurance companies to cover all applicants within new minimum standards and offer the same rates regardless of pre-existing conditions or gender.  Beginning October 1^st, we will be enrolling new customers into Blue Cross Blue Shield plans for 2014 effective dates.  Please give us a call or go online to generate your free rate quote on or after October 1^st and secure your Blue Cross coverage for 2014. If you would like to get your free rate quote and/or apply on line for Blue Cross Blue Shield coverage, please CLICK HERE and complete the information to generate your quote.

For more information on health insurance coverage in North Carolina, please visit our website at www.nchealthplans.com or call our toll free number 888-765-5400 and speak with one of our professional agents. Our agency provides coverage for health insurance in North Carolina through Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC). Call us for details.

WHAT INCOME IS USED TO DETERMINE MY SUBSIDY when applying for my Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina coverage?

The total of your gross adjusted income and tax-exempt interest income.  Found on Lines 8b and 37 of IRS Form 1040. The income used will be based on your 2012 year (filed in 2013) and will be adjusted based on your expectations for 2014.  Subsidy amounts will be reconciled in 2015 based on actual 2014 income and tax returns for that year.

Guaranteed issue when you apply today for your coverage to begin on January 1, 2014.

For more information on health insurance coverage in North Carolina, please visit our website at www.nchealthplans.com or call our toll free number 888-765-5400 and speak with one of our professional agents. Our agency provides coverage for health insurance in North Carolina through Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC). Call us for details.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires individual and group health plans to report publicly their medical loss ratios (MLR), which represent the percentage of each premium dollar that is spent on health care services and quality improvement. ACA also requires such plans beginning on January 1, 2011, to provide an annual rebate to enrollees if the MLR is below the minimum requirement for the applicable market. The minimum requirement is 80% for individual and small group markets and 85% for the large group market.

Though the ACA directs a national standard for all insurance carriers’ MLR, some states may require more stringent ratios. The ACA’s MLR requirements will serve as a floor, below which insurance carriers may not fall without being penalized as noted above. However, US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has the discretion to grant a state-specific waiver of the MLR requirement, and several states have requested and received waivers. North Carolina received an MLR waiver from HHS, effectively reducing the minimum MLR for individuals in 2011 to 75%. In 2012, that requirement will be raised to the statutory minimum of 80%. Otherwise, MLR requirements are 80% for small groups, and 85% for large groups.
(more…)

The term “actuarial value” has not been frequently used, even in the insurance business…yet! Even those in the business may have a hard time understanding it and even harder time explaining it. But the Affordable Care Act (ACA) uses actuarial value to describe many of the requirements and restrictions for compliant plans, so it becomes increasingly important to understand and explain what this term means and how it applies in a post-ACA world.
Actuarial value is often seen as the “true” value of a plan. It is the percentage of covered costs that the plan expects to pay for an enrollee in the plan. As an example, a person with a plan that had an actuarial value of 70% would be responsible for on average 30% of the cost of the covered benefits under the plan. Depending on the behavior of the enrollees in the plan, the actual value of the plan may vary slightly. Until the passage of ACA, “actuarial value” was not a household term. Long-time insurance employees likely have a loose grasp on the concept, but in the post-reform world, it will be a commonly used tool to estimate the true value of a plan.
(more…)

Executive Brief
Prepared by BCBSNC Health Policy Office
Overview
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) changes the very foundation of the way health insurance is purchased with the introduction of public health insurance Exchanges, a standardization of health insurance plans, and the creation of new financial assistance programs call subsidies. Each American may have a different experience with many of the reforms depending on factors such as their income, health status, and how they currently obtain their insurance. One group that received special attention under the ACA are American Indians and Alaska Natives (AN/AIs). Of particular note to health insurance issuers is the fact that these groups will have unique rules regarding subsidies and enrollment.
Subsidies
Two types of subsidies exist under the ACA: premium tax credits and cost-sharing reductions. Only available through the public Exchanges, the premium tax credits reduce the cost of the premium to individuals and families while the cost-sharing reductions reduce the out-of-pocket costs once a member has enrolled. For AI/ANs, the premium tax credits are applied just like anyone else who qualifies on the Exchange. However, the cost-sharing reductions have been modified for AI/ANs. For most individuals without access to other affordable coverage, the (more…)

Blue Cross Blue Shield wants to help you save. Consider one of our new low cost plan options. To help lessen the financial impacts of health care reform, BCBSNC has created several new plan options for 2014.

BCBSNC Catastrophic Plans in 2014:

+Substantial savings with preventive care covered at no charge3

+ Exemption from some of the rules of the Affordable Care Act (ACA)

Subsidies cannot be applied to this plan.

IFor more information on health insurance coverage in North Carolina, please visit our website at www.nchealthplans.com or call our toll free number 888-765-5400 and speak with one of our professional agents. Our agency provides coverage for health insurance in North Carolina through Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC). It would be our pleasure to help you navigate through the Health Care Reform changes in accordance with the new regulations of Obama care. Call us for details.

Information from a BCBSNC publication on 8/12/13.

Let’s get to the question on everyone’s minds: What does this mean for me?  The people most affected financially by Obama Care are those who purchase individual policies or get their insurance through a small-business employer.  Of those affected, some customers will pay less than they do now, but many will pay more. Federal subsidies will offset the rates for some people – but many will be eligible for only a partial subsidy.  Here’s how health insurance premiums will be impacted for different people choosing a mid level plan.

But how will Blue Cross and BlueShield of North Carolina’s individual and small business customers be affected specifically?

Because of the impacts of the Affordable Care Act, about half of our customers will see their premiums increase by 50 percent or more before federal subsidies. We expect about half of our customers will qualify for subsidies, which will help off set their costs – though the amount of those subsidies can vary greatly. Of course, subsidies don’t actually reduce the cost of coverage. They simply shift it to someone else. The federal government pays for the subsidies and the cost share shifted to taxpayers.

The above information is from “The Cost of Change” from Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina.

For more information on health insurance coverage in North Carolina, please visit our website at www.nchealthplans.com or call our toll free number 888-765-5400 and speak with one of our professional agents. Our agency provides coverage for health insurance in North Carolina through Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC). It would be our pleasure to help you navigate through the Health Care Reform changes in accordance with the new regulations of Obama care. Call us for details.