Hospital systems to form their own insurance company
Piedmont and WellStar, two of Atlanta’s largest hospital systems, said Monday they are forming an insurance company — a bold move in a rapidly changing health care marketplace.
By elbowing their way into the domain of Blue Cross Blue Shield, Aetna and United Healthcare, the hospital systems could dramatically increase the competition in the state’s insurance marketplace. The move could also change the way patients get care, because the hospital systems will have a financial stake in keeping patients healthy and controlling costs.
The impact could be especially significant if the Piedmont-WellStar health plan is included on the health law’s insurance exchange, where many Georgians will shop for plans and qualify for federal subsidies to help pay for their coverage in 2014.
“The reason this is such a big deal is that it creates a considerable amount of competition within the health insurance market in Georgia that many feared would not happen with the exchange — that it would be two or three big insurers, and that’s it,” said Bill Custer, a health care expert at Georgia State University.
http://www.ajc.com/news/lifestyles/health/hospital-systems-to-form-their-own-insurance-compa/nTYjt/