Health Team

Blue Cross: Debit cards going out to customers this week

Thousands of Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina customers should soon receive debit cards in the mail to help pay for expenses during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Posted Updated

By
Sarah Krueger
, WRAL Durham reporter
DURHAM, N.C. — Thousands of Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina customers should soon receive debit cards in the mail to help pay for expenses during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Blue Cross announced last month that it would issue $200 million in debit cards to more than 600,000 customers, each with a pre-loaded balance of $100 to $500.

"We’re glad that we’re able to do this for our customers, particularly given the time and the challenges that, of course, many of our customers and many North Carolinians are facing," Chief Financial Officer Mitch Perry said Monday, noting cards will start going out this week.

The cards cannot be used to pay for insurance premiums, prescription drugs, tobacco, alcohol or firearms.

"Pretty much from there, they can be spent at our customers’ discretion, and our hope and expectation is that they’re spent in a way that allows them to improve their health and their wellness," Perry said.

In addition to paying for health-related expenses, such as over-the-counter medications, first aid supplies, exercise equipment and vitamins, the cards also can be used to buy food, baby care items and other household goods.

To receive a card, customers must be enrolled in Blue Cross' individual under-65 and fully insured employer plans, including vision and dental plans. People covered by Medicare, the State Health Plan, the Federal Employee Program, Student Blue or self-insured group medical plans won't receive a card.

"We did try to have some reasonable relationship to the underlying cost of insurance," Perry said, noting that people with more or higher-cost coverage would have a bigger balance on their debit cards.

Durham resident Julia White said she's excited about getting her Blue Cross debit card, noting that she has been out of work for months and hasn't qualified for unemployment aid because she's a contractor.

"Whatever I could bring in would make a difference," White said. "With my age and my monthly payout, I try to avoid going to the doctor for unnecessary things just to save costs."

"It’s great timing if I can use it for anything I want to," agreed Gerri Addison, who has a Blue Cross dental plan. "I'll probably use it for Christmas."

The $200 million comes from funds Blue Cross received from the federal government through litigation related to the Affordable Care Act's temporary risk corridor program, officials said. The program was set up to encourage insurers to participate in the ACA's open marketplace by limiting their losses during the first three years of the exchange.

The government collected the funds from insurers that profited from the exchanges but didn't pay out money to struggling firms. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in April that the government was required to pay out $12 billion from the risk corridor program for 2014 through 2016, when the program ended.

"When we were successful in recovering some funds from a lawsuit from the early days of the ACA, we just felt like it was a great opportunity to do more and pass those savings on to our customers," Perry said.

He said Blue Cross is using other funds from the settlement to keep 2021 rates for many of its customers lower. The premiums on ACA plans offered to individuals in 2021 will be reduced by an average of 1 percent statewide, which company officials said would be the third straight year that Blue Cross has lowered ACA rates.

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