business
State official sets conditions on Delaware Blues-Highmark deal
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted June 13, 2011
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Delaware will have to set aside some of its reserves for public use before it can affiliate with Pittsburgh-based Highmark, Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden announced June 1.
The deal, proposed in August 2010, would make Highmark the parent company of Delaware's largest health insurer.
Officials with the Blues plan said the arrangement would give it access to badly needed capital to pay for technology and infrastructure it could not afford on its own.
Under state law, Biden said, the affiliation qualifies as a "conversion," and therefore will require the company to establish a nonprofit foundation for the benefit of the public.
Highmark and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Delaware released corporate statements saying they were "disappointed" with Biden's decision, but that they were still reviewing the determination.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2011/06/13/bibf0613.htm.
