Louisiana Blue Cross Blue Shield Gives Up on Controversial Sale (For Now)

BATON ROUGE, La. (KPEL News) - Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana (BCBSLA) announced Tuesday evening that it is giving up on a plan to sell to Elevance Health - a plan that has become highly controversial in recent days.

In a statement released Tuesday night, the Louisiana Department of Insurance said that the insurance organization decided to "withdraw its Plan of Reorganization" and that legislative hearings scheduled for Wednesday have been canceled.

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"Late (Tuesday) evening, Blue Cross notified the LDI that it has chosen to withdraw its Plan of Reorganization," said Louisiana Department of Insurance spokesman John Ford in a statement. "The hearing scheduled for (Wednesday) and (Thursday) is therefore canceled, and I currently have no information regarding Blue Cross' intentions moving forward."

According to the USA Today Network's Greg Hilburn, Elevance says it remains "committed to ultimately acquiring Blue Cross."

"We are supportive of BCBSLA’s decision to withdraw their plan of reorganization," the company said Wednesday morning in a statement. "We will continue to meaningfully engage community members who are truly interested in better health outcomes and more affordable healthcare. We remain committed to this partnership and will work with BCBSLA on next steps in bringing that to reality."

There are currently roughly 2 million Louisiana residents who would have been impacted by the sale. BCBSLA policyholders, who are also stakeholders, would have been eligible to vote on the proposed sale before it went through. The sale would also have to get approval from the state's new Commissioner of Insurance, Tim Temple.

State Senator Jay Morris called the shelving of the plan "great news" for Louisiana.

"I truly believe that this purported sale would have caused immeasurable frustration for Louisiana policyholders (40% of the State!) in addition to job losses," he wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter).

Along with several lawmakers, the plan was also opposed by state doctors and hospitals, along with vocal policyholders throughout Louisiana.

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It's the second time a plan to sell BCBSLA has been aborted, and it's unknown if there will be a third.