What We Are Doing With Our Tax Savings

It’s true. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (Blue Cross NC) is a not-for-profit health insurer. But we do pay taxes. In fact, we are fully taxed. We paid more than $500 million in federal, state and local taxes in 2017.

Our tax rate is now lower since Congress passed the Federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act at the end of the year.

This has both short- and long-term effects for our customers, communities, and employees

Today we announced that we’re investing $50 million – $40 million of which comes from the new tax law savings in 2018 – into community health programs to address: 

• The opioid epidemic
• Early childhood development
• Social determinants of health
• And access to primary care

 With our next rate filing, Blue Cross NC will begin using these tax law savings to lower premium increases. Some customers with plans that renew October 1 will see lower increases this year. However, the tax cut was announced after we had already filed our 2018 premium rates. That’s why most customers won’t see the effects in their rates until 2019. Even if premiums still go up, they will go up by a lesser amount than they otherwise would have.

We’re also making significant investments in tools, capabilities, and services to help our customers better understand and navigate the health care system so they can get the most out of their plans.

Blue Cross NC employs approximately 5,000 North Carolinians and we’ll use part of our tax savings to ensure that all of our employees are paid at least $15 an hour. And to reward their excellent efforts on behalf of our customers and communities, we’re giving all non-officer employees a one-time bonus of $1,000. 

We are proud to continue serving our customers and communities. Click here to learn more about our contribution

We’re proud to invest in programs that help our communities and to share some of our savings with the employees who serve our customers. And as we continue our work to control the rising cost of health care – by far the biggest driver of premiums – we are pleased that we can use the tax cut to pass savings on to our customers, too.

 

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