Ever told as a kid you couldn’t have something? So you were determined to find a way to get it come Hell or High Water?
The insurance community is a tight niche. Anyone with any longevity in the business has contacts far and wide. Sharing information is a common practice.
Years ago a regional BCBS senior marketing manager in Texas pushed the “We have the best discounts” button among his brain dead sales force. Critical thinking was not their collective strength. But their message was effective. Plan sponsors bought it. Certainly these Blue People weren’t lying! They are the biggest gorilla in town!
So I decided it was time to find out the truth. What was in these secret managed care contracts?
I put the word out “I need a copy of a Blue Cross hospital contract. Please send me one via snail mail to (address).” Shortly thereafter, in my mail box I found a brown paper envelop, with no return address, postmarked Chicago, a complete copy of a home office boiler plate BCBS hospital contract.
I didn’t stop there. I kept digging for more documentation and I got it.
I learned the truth.
Today I was told BCBS had an exclusivity clause in their ASO Agreements. Blue Cross informed the plan sponsor that information was proprietary and not for public inspection.
Remember when you were a kid and told you couldn’t have something?
So I reached out to my contacts asking for a copy of a standard BCBS ASO Agreement. Within minutes I received one via email. “Bill, I think this is what you’re looking for. See attached.”
There are no secrets in our business. Trust me on this.
