Our friend Jeff M sent us this intriguing (and, frankly, puzzling) item:
"Treasurer directs Blue Cross NC to cut state health plans’ rates by 15 percent"
As I mentioned in the title of this post, what possible stick could the Treasurer wield to enforce this edict? One supposes that he could direct his staff to simply not pay the premium - that'll show 'em! The problem there is that then the policy gets cancelled for non-payment, and suddenly there are a lot of newly uninsured North Carolinians.
I reached out to FoIB Michael Bertaut, an economist with Louisiana Blue Cross, for his take:
"This is pretty fascinating....”oh every Doc and hospital is getting a 15% pay cut on the entire state group!, screw with us and we’ll pay you Medicaid rates!”
I just don't see this ending well.
"Treasurer directs Blue Cross NC to cut state health plans’ rates by 15 percent"
As I mentioned in the title of this post, what possible stick could the Treasurer wield to enforce this edict? One supposes that he could direct his staff to simply not pay the premium - that'll show 'em! The problem there is that then the policy gets cancelled for non-payment, and suddenly there are a lot of newly uninsured North Carolinians.
I reached out to FoIB Michael Bertaut, an economist with Louisiana Blue Cross, for his take:
"This is pretty fascinating....”oh every Doc and hospital is getting a 15% pay cut on the entire state group!, screw with us and we’ll pay you Medicaid rates!”
I just don't see this ending well.
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