- Center on Health Equity & Access
- Clinical
- Health Care Cost
- Health Care Delivery
- Insurance
- Policy
- Technology
- Value-Based Care
Blue Cross NC Lowers Average 2021 ACA Rates for Individuals
Blue Cross NC’s third straight year of rate reductions since 2018.
Durham, N.C. – Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (Blue Cross NC) will be reducing rates by an average of 1% statewide for 2021 Affordable Care Act (ACA) plans offered to individuals. This is the third straight year that Blue Cross NC has lowered rates—a 3-year total reduction since 2018 of over $380 million.
“We’re pleased to make health insurance more affordable for North Carolinians who buy their own coverage from the individual market,” said Tunde Sotunde, president and CEO of Blue Cross NC. “Our customers can continue to count on us as they navigate challenges during this pandemic and beyond. We will again offer ACA plans in all 100 North Carolina counties, as we have since the beginning of the ACA in 2014.”
The decrease is a result of the company’s efforts to hold down costs while ensuring high-quality health care for members.
2021 rates take into account 2 unexpected and fluid circumstances—the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic and customers’ deferral of non-urgent care. After many customers deferred care in March through May, a large number have recently resumed elective procedures, which is reflected in a significant increase in customers’ medical claims for June and July.
Bias Reduction, Better Access Key to COVID-19 Equity Gains
April 14th 2025Interventions that target enhancing health care equity among communities disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic can be improved by including comprehensive needs assessments at the patient, provider, and health system levels.
Read More
Politics vs Science: The Future of US Public Health
February 4th 2025On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with Perry N. Halkitis, PhD, MS, MPH, dean of the Rutgers School of Public Health, on the public health implications of the US withdrawal from the World Health Organization and the role of public health leaders in advocating for science and health.
Listen
Bridging Care Gaps With a Systemwide Value-Based Care Strategy
March 29th 2025Mapping care management needs by defining patient populations and then stratifying them according to risk and their needs can help to spur the transformation of a siloed health care system into an integrated system that is able to better provide holistic, value-based care despite the many transitions that continue among hospital, primary, specialty, and community care environments.
Read More
