Deal to sell Blue Cross Blue Shield back on
Published 7:35 pm Friday, December 15, 2023
- (Special to the American Press)
The controversial sale of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana to Elevance Health of Indianapolis is again moving forward, according to a Friday news report in The Advocate. The newspaper said a new application was filed Thursday with the Louisiana Department of Insurance to reorganize into a for-profit company.
Some doctors and hospitals who questioned the $2.5 billion deal earlier this year said it could limit patient access to providers and policyholders. Republican Attorney General and Gov.-elect Jeff Landry and state legislators also questioned the sale.
State Sen. Jeremy Stine, R-Lake Charles, and a member of the Senate Insurance Committee, said in August he was concerned that the promise of $3,000 to Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s 92,000 official policyholders for a yes vote might keep them from looking at the big picture.
Stine said he also wanted policyholders to be aware of fines against Elevance and the $100,000 the Blue Cross Board of Directors would receive each year and would continue to receive for the next 10 years if the deal goes through.
The Advocate said many of the major elements of the proposed acquisition are largely unchanged under the new proposal. The sale price remains the same, as does the percentage of the sale’s proceeds that will go to Blue Cross’ 92,000 official policyholders.
The newspaper said the new deal includes changes to the nonprofit foundation that will be formed as part of the transaction and is set to receive 91% of the sale’s proceeds.
The Accelerate Louisiana Initiative will now have an expanded board of directors that includes an appointee of Landry. It will also have a nonvoting “observer” appointed by Tim Temple, the newly elected state insurance commissioner.
The proposed change to the board makeup and several others related to the foundation were approved by the Blue Cross board of directors Tuesday. After a public hearing by the Department of Insurance early next year, the deal must be approved by two-thirds of the company’s 92,000 policyholders and by Temple.
The Advocate said the foundation, which Blue Cross is expecting to be worth $3.5 billion after it includes “surplus” funds currently under its control, will also be incorporated in Louisiana instead of Delaware and will have a more narrowly defined mission.
The newspaper said the new plan spells out four ways Accelerate Louisiana would seek to “work to improve the health and lives of the people of Louisiana.”
Those four are reducing the dependency on public assistance for those living in poverty, improving health outcomes around chronic disease, increasing the health care workforce, and improving the way the state functions in health care.
Critics questioned the effect of the sale on customers and the structure of the foundation. Tim Kinney, an attorney, and Blue Cross policyholder, filed a lawsuit individually but is seeking to certify it as a class action on behalf of the 92,000 policyholders across the state.
“It’s important to stop Accelerate from being part of a plan that they have no business being part of,” Kinney told The Advocate. “I want to stop them from proceeding further with their plan.”
The Advocate said by planning to organize the foundation as a “501(c)(4) special charitable trust” it would be legally prohibited from engaging in political activity.
Dr. Steve Udvarhelyi, Blue Cross CEO, said giving the new governor control over one seat on the board and giving Temple an oversight role was a way to address concerns from stakeholders about how the foundation money would be spent.
“The concerns we heard were that the board was going to be a self-perpetuating board with no involvement from state government,” the CEO said. “This will provide the measure of public oversight that some had asked about.”
