DirigoChoice Health switches from the crooks at Anthem to non-profit Harvard Pilgrim

[ticapnews]

From the Press Herald editorial:

By partnering with a nonprofit health insurer eager to expand its business in Maine, the state's Dirigo Health program has made a modest improvement to a modest program aimed at helping with health-care cost and access issues.
On Thursday, state officials announced a two-year deal with Harvard Pilgrim Health Care to operate the DirigoChoice insurance product that is the centerpiece of the reforms championed by Gov. Baldacci. This means that 15,000 Mainers now enrolled in DirigoChoice will no longer get coverage through the state's largest carrier, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, as of Jan. 1.

It also means that the state will be working with a private insurer that does not require a profit guarantee to operate the state program. And, unlike Anthem, Harvard Pilgrim does not have a significant line of business that is in competition with Dirigo.

All that adds up to a coup for the Dirigo Health agency overseeing the program. It would have been risky for DirigoChoice to self-insure, as some had advocated. The state would have to acquire expertise and money to run DirigoChoice on its own, and the taxpayers would have been at direct risk for any potential losses.

At the same time, having Anthem manage DirigoChoice was always an imperfect arrangement. The for-profit insurer had to make a certain amount of money for the venture to be worthwhile. Also, while Anthem may have done its level best to make DirigoChoice a success, the fact that DirigoChoice sought some of the same customers Anthem wanted for other lines of business made the arrangement awkward at best.

Harvard Pilgrim, on the other hand, is a nonprofit and did not seek any profit guarantees in taking on DirigoChoice. It has about 12,000 customers in Maine, and, therefore, growing DirigoChoice will more likely bring it new business, not take it from somewhere else under the Harvard Pilgrim umbrella.

More at link.
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=132498&ac=PHedi

[MaineDem]

1. I've had Harvard Pilgrim for years

I can't say anything bad about them. They've been responsive, quick, and pleasant to deal with.

[luckyleftyme2]

2. anthem

HOW sad to see the company I fought to bring into the engineering company I worked for 50 years ago become such a money grabbing orginization.
they moved into my wifes work place 2 years ago,yup prices went up,her share on medications went from $5 to $25 per prescription. her cost jumped 25% monthly.
yup they done the same thing many times in other places. low ball then stiff you!
Its time we had the insurance commission look into things like this! oh i'm sure on paper
they can show they need an increase. but i'm just as sure you could find their overhead is
unjustified.

[sandyd921]

3. At one time in this country

all health insurance was provided by non-profit organizations. This movement is certainly an improvement and a move in the right direction, although IMO and in the opinion of many others, universal single payer is where we must ultimately go. It sounds like, with Harvard Pilgrim, growth of the program will not be suppressed as it was under Anthem. Hopefully this will instead result in expansion of the program to more uninsured and under-insured Mainers.

[high density]

4. That's an improvement

Having a money grubbing corporation running this was a bad idea from the start. My heath insurance recently switched over to Harvard Pilgrim, so I will be interested to see how good they are. Their overall satisfaction ratings are very high from what I've seen.

[luckyleftyme2]

5. we need a single payer system

we won't get it untill we take the profit out of health-care. It is a given fact that
the larger the market,the cheaper the cost to do business.
and there is no end to the flack and mis-information insurance companies will go to so they can continue to rip off the public.