The bribes have been negotiated and they are surprisingly small

I think I said this around this time last year, but I really have got to get back to posting here (or writing longer form in some other way) more often. It's the only way I'm going to be able to keep track of the things that happen and hold them in my mind for any longer than it takes to flush them down Elon's Twitter toilet. 

For example, yesterday when I read this story about the deal Elevance and Blue Cross are offering Jeff Landry and Tim Temple so that they will bless the non-profit insurer's sale to the for-profit company, I thought, oh look, all it took was a just a couple of little bribes. They really bought them off cheap.

Many of the major elements of the proposed acquisition are largely unchanged from the original proposal announced in January. The sale price remains the same, as does the percentage of the sale's proceeds that will go to Blue Cross' 92,000 official policyholders.

But the new deal includes changes to the nonprofit foundation that will be formed as part of the transaction and is set to receive 91% of the sale's proceeds. The Accelerate Louisiana Initiative will now have an expanded board of directors that includes an appointee of Gov.-elect Jeff Landry. It will also include a nonvoting "observer" appointed by newly elected Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple.

But it took me a while to be reminded that I'd already flagged this in September when the writing was on the wall about Landry and Temple's intentions prior to the election.  This happens to me all the time now. If I don't deliberately stop and write about something, I'm liable to lose it. I try to keep little notes in draft but it's not the same. There's something about completing the thought here that makes it stick. There's just been less time lately to finish thoughts. That can't be good.

Anyway, this isn't supposed to be a post about me. Elevance is about to take over the state's largest insurer in a deal that will make some very wealthy administrators even wealthier. Meanwhile, Blue Cross policyholders are facing a precarious future. But hey, I'm sure that $3,000 will make up for it. 

Blue Cross first announced the deal with Elevance nearly a year ago. But as the deal came under closer scrutiny before its approval by regulators, critics expressed concerns about the effect of the sale on customers and questioned the structure of the foundation.

Two reports by independent consultants prepared for state regulators raised questions about some of the deal assumptions. More recently, a Metairie attorney has filed a suit in federal court seeking class action status on behalf of the 92,000 policyholders, arguing that as members of the mutual indemnity company who have paid into it over the years, they, not the foundation, are entitled to the sale proceeds.

Under the terms of the current deal, policyholders will split some $276 million, receiving approximately $3,000 each.