What's Happening in Durham, NC…

Some Durham residents will be pleased to learn that Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina has lowered its premiums for its health plans that falls under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

The insurer’s plans to cut premiums for its ACA policies next year, if approved by North Carolina’s Department of Insurance, will come with a catch. Approximately 50,000 of its customers will have to switch doctors and hospital at the end of 2018 due to Blue Cross doing away with the ACA plan affiliated with WakeMed and Duke Health, the Blue Local plan.

Blue Cross lost over $450m during the ACA’s online marketplace’s first three years. The company says it has learned more about the customer pool and has used that information to better manage care and cut down medical expenses.

Blue Cross currently provides over 475,000 customers with health plans and about 90% of that number receive federal subsidies to reduce their premiums. It is the only company to offer ACA plans to all of North Carolina’s 100 counties.

Recent congressional action has helped reduce ACA premiums but others have prevented what could have been further reductions. Having the ACA Health Insurer Tax suspended for one year and savings provided by the federal tax cuts have resulted in 3.5% lower rates.

Health insurance companies could use the help of brochure printing services to inform the public of how Washington’s actions affect their premiums.