Approximately 1.2 million individuals in North Carolina1 will soon be making a decision about health care coverage. Recognizing health care reform is complex and the changes impact everyone differently, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina ...

Telecommuting and flexible work schedules. Phased retirement programs. Free health-care benefits. Retirement-planning seminars. Emergency eldercare services. Those are just a few of the perks offered by some of the companies on the list compiled this year by AARP and the Society for Human Resource Management, or SHRM, an association for human-resource professionals.

“Even if you have good health insurance, the cost of a serious health crisis can mean prolonged stress and hardship for many families,” said Sean Kerns, vice president at Mosaic Group. “Supplemental insurance can help offset out-of-pocket costs, lost wages and day-to-day living expenses, allowing customers to focus on getting better.”

Individuals buying health insurance coverage on new online exchange marketplaces beginning this fall will be choosing from products from only two or three carriers, a top state executive with Coventry Health Care explained Tuesday.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina will vacate its landmark headquarters in Chapel Hill next year as the insurer consolidates its Triangle workforce on its expanding Durham campus.

“This is a heartening example of the medical community and an insurance company working collaboratively so that patients benefit from the best possible treatment plans for cancer care,” said Don Bradley, M.D., senior vice president and chief medical officer for BCBSNC. “Plans like these can minimize testing and treatments that lack proven medical benefit, improve patients’ experience with the health care system, and in turn reduce medical costs for patients.”

“North Carolina businesses have shown their commitment to providing their employees with the support and tools to get fit,” said Sean Kerns, BCBSNC vice president of Specialty Markets. “Through the Get Fit Challenge, employees worked as a team to improve their fitness levels, get healthy and lose almost seven tons of weight. This effort has jump started new behaviors and habits that will help employees improve their quality of life and reduce their health care spending over time.”

More than 5,000 employees at 81 companies in the state lost a combined 13,805 pounds since January as part of the "Get Fit Challenge" put on by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, the state's largest health insurer.

In a signpost pointing to health insurance changes under the nation’s new health care law, North Carolina’s largest insurer has warned of steep rate increases for customers who have typically paid below-average premiums.

“Beginning next year, individuals who buy their own health insurance will feel a wide variety of impacts as new components of the ACA take full effect,” said Patrick Getzen, BCBSNC vice president and chief actuary. “The ACA expands access to coverage and increases benefits. This is a good goal, but it comes with a cost. Subsidies will offset the higher cost of premiums for some of our customers, but more sick people in the insurance pool, more benefits, and new taxes and fees will drive rates up.”