Aurora Health Care has announced a partnership with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Wisconsin to create an insurance company that provides care at competitive prices.
The new company, Wisconsin Collaborative Insurance Co., could lead to lower premiums and even boost competition among health systems and insurers. It will start offering coverage next year in 45 counties and will replace the health plans sold under the Blue Priority name with Well Priority plans.
Wisconsin Collaborative Insurance’s health plans will support other health systems throughout the state in its network, such as Aspirus, Bellin Health in Green Bay, Gundersen Health in La Crosse, ThedaCare in the Fox Valley and UW Health and UnityPoint Health-Meriter in Madison. The company’s health plan will also include Anthem’s national network.
The two companies had previously collaborated in 2012, according to a Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel report, when Anthem offered health plans tied to Aurora’s network. The partnership featured incentives and penalties related to Aurora’s ability to provide care at a projected cost while fulfilling quality standards.
This is not the first time Aurora has entered the health insurance market. More than two decades ago, the healthcare provider briefly owned Samaritan Health Plan as a result of its merger with Good Samaritan Hospital.
"It's all about figuring out how you can work with providers to create a more sustainable health system," said former Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Wisconsin president and current Empire BlueCross BlueShield in New York president Larry Schreiber.
"The next level of collaboration — by tying our two companies together through a common company — puts us in position where we are aligned well beyond contracting with health systems.”
