N.C. Based Blue Cross Posts Loss, Blames Obamacare, Not Actuaries

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Blue Cross and Blue Shield says it has posted its first financial loss since 1999 as a result of insuring high numbers of older and sicker people under the Affordable Care Act.

The Associated Press

© February 27, 2015

RALEIGH, N.C.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield says it has posted its first financial loss since 1999 as a result of insuring high numbers of older and sicker people under the Affordable Care Act.

The News & Observer of Raleigh reports the state’s largest insurer posted a loss of $50.6 million last year, compared to net income of $92.6 million in 2013.

The Chapel Hill-based company says it signed up 257,704 people under the federal health care law, which requires insurers to provide coverage regardless of a customer’s health condition. It said new enrollees last year sent Blue Cross’s covered membership to 3.91 million people. Revenue reached a record $8 billion.

But medical procedures and specialty drugs drove up claims from $5 billion in 2013 to $6.4 billion in 2014