BUSINESSMore Blues moving to for-profitNorth Carolina and New Jersey Blue Cross Blue Shield plans are the latest to ask to convert from nonprofit companies as Blues consolidations pile up.By Julie A. Jacob, amednews staff. Jan. 14, 2002. Two more nonprofit Blue Cross Blue Shield plans want to join the wave of Blues plans that are converting to for-profit companies. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, headquartered in Chapel Hill, announced Dec. 12, 2001, that it will be filing a conversion petition with the state insurance department. Two days later, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, based in Newark, announced it will start discussions with state regulators regarding a similar conversion. The North Carolina and New Jersey Blues plans are the latest in a series of Blue Cross Blue Shield licensees that have recently converted from nonprofits or mutual insurers to for-profit companies, or that have announced plans to do so. Representatives of both the North Carolina Blues and Horizon said that the companies want to convert in order to be more competitive players in the health insurance industry. "It will be a way to raise capital and better serve our customers," said Mark Stinneford, a North Carolina Blues spokesman. "We're doing it to maintain financial strength," said Fred Hillmann, a spokesman for Horizon Blues. "We are in a very competitive environment and our competition is getting stronger and stronger." Both spokesmen said the companies have no plans to merge with other companies, even though for-profit WellPoint Health Networks Inc. of Thousand Oaks, Calif., and Anthem of Indianapolis -- both of which control Blues plans -- have sought merger partners.
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The doctors are in the house
The AMA's House of Delegates is holding its Interim Meeting Nov. 7-10 in Houston, addressing issues such as health system reform and physician payment. Meeting coverage - Slideshow Feature articlesHealth reform review The Massachusetts experience Litigation stress Being sued is personal as well as professional Comprehensive coverage
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