NC activists target Blue Cross Blue Shield for blocking health care reform

Activists gathered outside of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina's headquarters in Chapel Hill Wednesday to protest the private insurer's opposition to President Barack Obama's proposed public option as a part of health care reform. Blue Cross Blue Shield has been at the forefront of opposing the public option health plan. As the Washington Post reported in May, BCBSNC has produced several videos -- unaired as of yet -- against a government-sponsored health insurance option. "We need Blue Cross to stop using our premiums to prevent real health care reform and to stop standing in the way of a public option," Adam Searing of the of the N.C. Justice Center's Health Access Coalition, told the Carrboro Citizen. As Facing South reported earlier this month, health insurance premiums have skyrocketed, due in part to private insurers' near-monopolies in many states. BCBSNC has a 72.5 percent market share of individual and employer-provided health insurance in North Carolina.