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Much has changed at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana.
In February, Blue Cross withdrew a plan of reorganization and sale to for-profit, out-of-state Elevance Health for a second time amid pushback from lawmakers, policyholders and regulators worried about a potential rise in premiums, among other concerns. In May, a new president and CEO was named. In July, a new organizational structure was announced. And in August, the company rebranded as Louisiana Blue for all public-facing purposes.
Business Report sat down with President and CEO Bryan Camerlinck to gain a better understanding of the recent developments and what they mean for Blue Cross—and its policyholders—going forward.
The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Will another sale like the Elevance transaction be proposed in the foreseeable future or is a sale completely off the table?
A sale is completely off the table at this point, and there are no plans to pursue one under my watch. We’re focused on Louisiana and we’re focused on being independent. We’re going to work with our local providers, brokers and community members—which includes the Louisiana Legislature—to remain independent as long as we can. We’ve been here for 90 years, and we think we have the right plan in place to continue being a strong, successful, independent company.
When the Elevance transaction was on the table, Blue Cross executives told Business Report that the company was being outperformed by its competitors and that the sale would go a long way toward bridging that gap. Now that the sale is off the table, how do you plan to keep Blue Cross competitive going forward?
I wasn’t in that meeting, so I don’t know the full context of what was said, but I wouldn’t say “outperformed.” I would say “outspent.” But we continue to be the insurer of choice for Louisianans, and that’s across almost all markets that we participate in. Our concerns when the Elevance transaction was on the table surrounded some of the headwinds that are out there in terms of cost of compliance and cost of technology as well as some of the trends we’re seeing in our small group lines of business. As a state, we have more people going to Medicaid and Medicare versus the lines we’ve traditionally focused on, which are insuring groups and insuring individuals. Medicaid, Medicare and self-funded groups are areas that our competitors have invested in more than we have in the past. We’re now able to shift some of our focus and invest in those areas through calculated investments in technology and partnerships like the one we have with Epic. But I think the transaction was more about headwinds than it was about current performance. We’re financially strong and we have very, very strong market share.
Blue Cross recently announced that it was rebranding as Louisiana Blue in an attempt to convey the company’s “rededication to Louisiana.” Can you explain the motivation behind the rebrand and what a rededication to Louisiana looks like from your perspective?
As we come out of that Elevance transaction, we are 100 percent focused on Louisiana. We want to be the local health care payer that we know we can be—being partners with our providers in the community, being partners with our brokers in the community and being here for our members and the people of Louisiana. We’re making sure that we’re putting Louisiana first. Instead of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana, it’s Louisiana Blue. It’s something that gives us the opportunity to look forward with a fresh brand.
Blue Cross also recently announced a new organizational structure that saw four senior leaders step into elevated roles. I understand that much is changing inside the company, but what, if anything, can Blue Cross policyholders expect to change as a result of these internal shake-ups?
Those promotions were really about getting the right people in the right seats to lead us forward. We want to align areas of decision-making and responsibility to be more efficient in terms of what our members can expect going forward. It’s a focus on being easier to do business with, because we understand that health care is difficult to navigate and we want to invest as much as we can in improving that experience over time. And it’s a focus on affordability, because we understand that our product is out of reach for a lot of people in Louisiana. It’ll take some time to address both of those issues, but as a local company, we’re able to work with local partners on improving things. As an example, in 2023, we announced our investment in the Epic Payer Platform, which is a technology that a very large percentage of Louisiana providers use. That platform enables us to communicate directly with our providers using their own systems to share information that’ll improve patient care.
What are some of the biggest challenges that Blue Cross will face in the coming years and how do you plan to lead the company in overcoming those challenges?
There’s a challenge to all of us in health care in terms of cost. The advancements that are coming to us both pharmaceutically and technologically increase costs. We want to be creative and judicious about addressing that challenge, and we want to maintain a healthy market for groups and individuals as they’re purchasing coverage while also being there for our members who are in government programs like Medicaid and Medicare. It’s about trying to manage that balance. We can’t be all things to all people, so we want to focus on the areas where Louisianans count on us most.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, what are some of the biggest opportunities that Blue Cross will be able to capitalize on in the coming years?
We’ll capitalize on being local. While the Elevance transaction may have been a bit of a distraction for our employees and our partners, we feel like we have a lot of momentum right now. Our partners are stepping up to the plate, whether they be providers, brokers or policymakers.
You mentioned working with policymakers. Are there any specific legislative changes that you’d like to see made?
Nothing that I can talk about right now, but each year we face a number of challenges in the Legislature in terms of costs or mandates. We want to help those who are trying to improve health care in Louisiana understand the dynamics that are at play so that we can all work together for the betterment of those who live here. It’s really just a matter of having a seat at the table and having those conversations so that there’s an understanding of potential impacts when laws are crafted.
Life expectancy in Louisiana continues to be among the lowest in the country. What is Blue Cross doing to address that?
I won’t say that I’m an expert on longevity, but we certainly do have opportunities to improve our overall health and health outcomes. Much of what we’re doing involves creating opportunities for our providers to benefit through value-based contracts. We’ve enabled our providers to create incentives so that when our members and their patients are healthier, they benefit financially. We also set a company goal every year to work with our providers to improve upon the HEDIS (Health Care Effectiveness Data and Information Set) measures that Louisiana ranks in the lower quartile of the U.S. for. That’s part of the incentives in the value-based contracts. We’ll focus on that side of the equation and hopefully that will improve longevity in the long run.
