{"id":5837,"date":"2015-04-30T10:58:17","date_gmt":"2015-04-30T14:58:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/?p=5837"},"modified":"2015-04-15T10:59:04","modified_gmt":"2015-04-15T14:59:04","slug":"bcbsnc-health-insurance-premium-what-does-it-pay-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/2015\/04\/bcbsnc-health-insurance-premium-what-does-it-pay-for\/","title":{"rendered":"BCBSNC Health Insurance Premium – What Does it Pay For?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Stacks<\/a>With all of the changes in the health insurance industry under the Affordable Care Act <\/a>and an overall increase in the cost of health insurance for consumers, you may be wondering exactly what your monthly premium pays for and where all of that money goes.\u00a0 Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina<\/a> is happy to answer that question.\u00a0 As most people already know, your health insurance premium is part of a large pool of money collected by the insurance company, which is then distributed in the form of health care claims to those in need of medical care.\u00a0 A portion of that pool of money pays for health care and a portion goes toward operating the insurance company itself and creating a profit.\u00a0 The question most people have is how much of that money actually goes toward claims and how much is simply profit for the company.<\/p>\n

Recently, BCBSNC announced that they spend almost 86 cents of every premium dollar to pay for customers’ health care needs, including visits to the doctor’s office, surgeries, diagnostic tests, prescriptions, contact lenses, etc.\u00a0 In fact, Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC paid $5 billion dollars in claims in 2013 alone, making that $5 billion dollars worth of coverage directly benefiting BCBSNC customers.\u00a0 In addition, there is non-medical spending that still directly affects BCBSNC members in a positive way.\u00a0 Non-medical expenditures include things like customer service and technology improvements, which provide customers with the most up-to-date, user friendly website<\/a> and an exceptional customer service experience.<\/a><\/p>\n

Even further, under the Affordable Care Act there now exists what is called the Medical Loss Ratio Requirement.\u00a0 This requirement prevents insurance companies from engaging in excessive spending on administration, salaries and other business costs.\u00a0 Insurance companies are now required to use 80 cents of every premium dollar collected from individual and small group customers to pay customer claims and support quality of care.\u00a0 Even before the law, however, BCBSNC exceeded that standard, and in 2012 they paid $260 million dollars more toward health care expenses than was required under the law.\u00a0 This requirement also means that insurance companies cannot increase rates simply as a way to increase profits, but must maintain a minimum percentage of dollars spent on health care or refund that money to customers.<\/p>\n

Let’s face it, the cost of health insurance is on the rise and it can be a strain on any income.\u00a0 Understanding where your insurance premium goes is an important part of understanding your health insurance plan<\/a> and what makes it valuable.\u00a0 Although it may be tough to pay out a few hundred dollars a month, when the need for medical care arises, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina is there to make sure you and your family are covered.<\/p>\n

For more information on Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina health insurance coverage, the Marketplace and healthcare gov<\/a>\u00a0 to apply for your subsidy, please visit our website at www.nchealthplans.com<\/a> or call our toll free number 888-765-5400 and speak with one of our experienced and professional agents.\u00a0 Let us help you navigate through the Health Care Reform changes in accordance with the new regulations of The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obama care.<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With all of the changes in the health insurance industry under the Affordable Care Act and an overall increase in the cost of health insurance for consumers, you may be wondering exactly what your monthly premium pays for and where all of that money goes.\u00a0 Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina is happy to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560,14],"tags":[539,23,595],"class_list":["post-5837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-affordable-care-act-aca","category-bcbsnc-insurance","tag-aca","tag-bcbsnc","tag-insurance-premium"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5837"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5837\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5850,"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5837\/revisions\/5850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}