Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC

Union Pushes Back On Blue Cross Mailer

Nick Pinto | December 1, 2009, 6:10PM

Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC)

Last week, we reported that Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, the state's largest health insurer, was under investigation for a campaign of robocalls and mass-mailings urging residents to lobby U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan against the public option.

Now a local SEIU chapter has launched a site that keys off the news to push back on the insurer. The site blames BCBS's "monopoly" for "skyrocketing" health-care costs, and urges visitors to send a petition to Hagan telling her to "stand strong" and support the public option.

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Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC

Backlash Grows Against NC Health Insurer's Anti-Reform Campaign

Zachary Roth | November 27, 2009, 11:04AM

Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC)

This post was reported by Nick Pinto, and written by Nick Pinto and Zachary Roth

A North Carolina health insurer is facing a major backlash in the wake of its campaign to enlist customers in the fight against health-care reform.

The state's Insurance Commissioner has begun an inquiry into a mailer sent recently by Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina -- and first revealed last month by TPMmuckraker -- that urged customers to lobby Senator Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) to vote against the public option. As we reported Tuesday, the state's Attorney General has opened his own probe of a barrage of follow-up robo-calls generated by the insurer. And state lawmakers continue to express their own and their constituents' outrage at the effort, with one legislator telling TPMmuckraker that some recipients of the mailer sent it back to BCBS attached to a brick.

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