Via Mitch Crane’s Facebook:
While the media has concentrated on Attorney General Biden’s request that BCBSD reserves be used to help provide medical insurance coverage for uninsured Delawareans, attention should be focused on the Attorney General’s continued opposition to the proposed merger with Highmark.
While the request serves a need, the issue remains the negative consequences of the eventual loss of BCBSD to an out-of-state company. We also must not lose sight of the argument that Blue Cross needs the affiliation in order to “upgrade” its computer system and that the cost of such an upgrade seems to go up every time it is mentioned. Even if the cost is the nearly $100 million it is getting close to being, BCBSD can afford that expense out of its existing reserves, leaving a balance still far in excess of the minimum needed. These “reserves” are nothing more than excess premium dollars paid by consumers and transferred into a reserve account so that the company can remain “not-for-profit”
Citizens of Delaware must continue to oppose this merger as we near the day the day the Insurance Commissioner alone will decide whose interests she really feels the obligation to protect.
It seems to me that the question is, will Highmark be allowed to steal the premium money paid in by Delawareans? Biden and Crane say no, KWS says…. ?