Publications

"Costs, Commitment and Locality: A Comparison of For-Profit and Not-For-Profit Health Plans" A study commissioned by the Alliance for Advancing Nonprofit Health Care to determing if for-profit and not-for-profit health insurers within the same state behave differently in terms of performance, efficiency and contribution to safety net programs. January 28, 2004. Click here to view this report.

"Proposed Conversion of Premera Blue Cross" A special report on the Proposed Conversion of Premera Blue Cross. January 23, 2004. Click here to view this report.

"Advancing the Role of Nonprofit Health Care" from Inquiry, The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision and Financing. Vol. 39, No. 2 pp. 96-100; Summer 2002
Click here to view this article.

"Nonprofit Health Insurers: The Financial Story Wall Street Doesn’t Tell"

This white paper, written by Susan R. Barrish and commissioned by the Alliance, provides evidence that nonprofit health plans are financially healthy overall. Contrary to the argument made by Wall Street investment firms that an infusion of equity capital is critical to insurers’ survival, Ms. Barrish concludes that nonprofits have been more successful than for-profits in "implementing a capital-building and retention strategy—without access to the equity capital market, when you compare NAIC’s risk-based capital formula for managed care organizations." Click here to view this document.

"Blue Cross Conversion: Policy Considerations Arising From a Sale of the Maryland Plan"

This 117 paper by Carl J. Schramm of the Abell Foundation, released in November 2001, concludes that "the loss of Maryland’s commitment to a system that protects the poor and the otherwise uninsurable, while providing a predictable environment for the State’s hospitals and insurance companies, would be an intolerable price to pay for CareFirst’s corporate ambitions." The author also notes that ‘there are no economic or business reasons why Blue Cross of Maryland should be sold. Similar transactions involving other Blue Cross plans have not benefitted the communities in which those plans operate by achieving lower premiums or better service. The percentage of premiums that are paid out for medical claims is significantly lower in for-profit plans than non-profits." Click here to view this document.