I love working for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana. And I am 100% sold on the notion that the best way to pay for a person’s healthcare is by creating entities just like us and giving them the freedom to make local decisions and manage our healthcare funds. Read more
Mike originally wrote and published this piece in 2015. Blue Cross has gotten similar messages in the years since, so he decided to go back and see if his answer still stands. He’s added more details in this post, but the crux of his answer is the same. Read more
Years ago, I saw a wonderful movie called “Other People’s Money.” If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend you do, especially the monologues in the last 20 minutes of the film. Really first-class lessons in economics and capitalism encoded into a movie.
At one point in the movie, a merger and acquisition specialist (played by Danny DeVito) uses this (paraphrased) example to explain how technology changes our lives: Read more
A little over 10 years ago, I was sitting in a tiny hotel room in Washington, D.C., waiting for a phone call from a friend who is a lobbyist for our Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. It was Christmas Eve 2009, and we were awaiting the final vote of the U.S. Senate on the Affordable Care Act (ACA). I remember very clearly thinking that there was nothing to stop the then-Democratic majority from passing the ACA. Certainly, they had put a ton of work, time and effort into the law. But — they put much less time into gaining the trust of the opposition.
One of the more interesting things the Affordable Care Act did to the private health insurance business was to tell health insurance companies that the Feds were now in control of their profit margins. What does that mean?
Imagine you are the CEO of your own health insurance company. In fact, let’s call it Your Own Health Insurance Company, or YOHIC for short! How do you think you would feel if YOHIC collected $1 billion in premiums over a year, but only had to pay out $500 million in healthcare costs? Sounds like YOHIC is doing really well, turning a 50% profit. Does YOHIC get to keep the rest of the premiums for its own payroll and profits?
Since 2010, the answer to that question is a resounding NO! Read more
It’s the eve of your 26th birthday, you must take your first steps into this alien world alone. For 25 years, you’ve lived in safety on the Mother Ship, er, your parents’ health insurance plan. PPOs, HMOs, cost shares and deductibles weren’t even on your radar.
What should you (or your kid who is turning 26) do? Healthcare Economist Mike Bertaut explains your options. Read more
