Horizon Gives its Members the Blues

When the President of the Medical Society of New Jersey takes time to submit a carefully crafted letter to the editor, we need to read it. When Dr. Raj Gupta, the Society’s head, goes on to write in the Courier News that New Jersey’s citizens are about to be ripped off by the terms of Horizon’s proposal to go ‘for-profit,’ we had better listen closely.

The purpose of an insurer like Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey is to provide the funds to cover the health-care needs of its premium-paying members. Its obligation is to do that as thoroughly and as effectively as possible, while maintaining reserves sufficient to meet that goal. It is not a business; nor is it a welfare institution. It is an organization whose purpose is to meet the needs of its members. Other objectives, though they may be noble, are not within its purview.

But, because the delivery of health-care is so unequal and so fractured, Horizon’s management currently sees an opening to change the purpose and vision of Horizon’s charter. That perceived opening is the combination of New Jersey’s current fiscal mess and its salivating Trenton politicians who may be ready to grasp at any straw to gain any advantage, however temporary, to infuse cash into the system.

As Dr. Gupta points out in his letter, the measly one billion dollars that would accrue to New Jersey citizens comes down to an equivalent, one-time payment of about $588 for every uninsured person in this state: In other words – peanuts. But, as Dr. Gupta points out, the windfall for top Horizon executives could be in the millions: That, of course, is the real purpose and motivating force behind making Horizon a publicly-traded corporation.

Look, I’m just as conservative and as profit-minded as many others in the Garden State. But the Horizon proposal is not about providing uninsured New Jerseyans better health-care. It’s about stuffing the pockets of executives who either don’t know or don’t care about what the purpose of their organization is all about.

Non-existent government oversight and management malfeasance within the financial industry have caused the collapse of a once-thriving real estate market. We don’t need to see a mini repetition of that in New Jersey in the form of an ill-advised initial public offering of Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield stock. (And, by the way, which Wall Street investment firm is Horizon working with to craft this misguided health-care boondoggle?)

Dr. Raj Gupta’s letter-to-the editor is a splendid piece and well-deserving of your reading time. You can find it at http://www.mycentraljersey.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080825/OPINION04/808250308/1063. Don’t miss it. Thanks for your patient reading. Have a good end-of-summer.