SCANDAL: Blue Cross Blue Shield Investigated By ND State Insurance Examiners

[Joanne98]

Just remember this from Blue Cross Blue Shield when they say they need to increase insurance rates in North Dakota! Thanks to the Fargo Forum for this investigation.


Nearly $15 million in employee bonuses that were almost assured regardless of performance.

Sales reward trips to posh resorts totaling $1.2 million.

A $3.5 million investment in a murky hotel partnership lacking audited financial statements.

All this and much more during just the past five years are among almost half a billion dollars in expenses detailed in a report by state insurance examiners who probed spending practices by Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota.

Sounds like the "Blues" aren't hurting for cash. Of course, they only wound up with a 22% increase of insurance rates in Michigan after going after a 59% increase. Maybe we should all get in the insurance racket.


The report’s bottom line: The lavish expenses for the controversial trip to the sandy Caribbean beaches were symptomatic of a broader culture of extravagant spending by the company that collects almost 90 cents of every $1 in private insurance premiums paid in North Dakota.

Altogether, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota premium payers picked up the tab for $418.3 million in administrative expenses over the five-year period.

As noted by examiners, those expenses are used to determine members’ premiums, which have skyrocketed in recent years at double-digit rates along with soaring medical costs.

Blue Cross Blue Shield executives and directors repeatedly have boasted that the company has among the lowest administrative costs in the nation, less than 7 cents of every $1 in premiums.

Notably, however, more than two-thirds of the increase in expenses during the examination period went to employees of Blue Cross Blue Shield as well as its affiliates and subsidiaries, examiners found.

Sounds like Blue Cross Blue Shield is going to find their practices under scrutiny and that in turn will bring out even more damning information that the "Blues" might not have been on the up and up when discussing their rates and practices. Just another reason why either the insurance companies need tighter regulations, or more competition.

http://anangrydakotademocrat.blogspot.com/2009/09/blue-cross-blue-shield-investigated-by.html

Here's the link to LBN

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4050888

[napi21]

1. Ca. is investigating 2 other ins co's too. I really hope they fry

them...big time!