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On the insurance side, payers have made in-network pricing available to members for years. As a member (with a login and password) you could see the actual price of most procedures using any web browser. But that was exclusive to members ‒ not the general public. Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina is among the first (if not the first ‒ certainly as a major) to offer these closely guarded, negotiated rates to the general public.

Health insurers are unleashing a blizzard of ads, letters, live events and other efforts to reach consumers, as the industry ramps up for the reopening of the health law’s marketplaces on Nov. 15.

“This is the beginning of a journey,” said J. Bradley Wilson, the chief executive of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, which estimates that as much as 40 percent of its payments are now through one of the new arrangements. “The fee-for-service model is changing and is going to continue to change,” he said.

Subscription may be required. Still, some insurers say enrollees so far appear less healthy than they had projected. "It's even worse than what we thought," said Patrick Getzen, chief actuary for Blue Cross & Blue Shield of North Carolina. "We're seeing more chronic conditions than we would have expected," he said, and that will "put pressure on the 2015 rates." Among them are diabetes, depression, asthma, heart disease and cancer, he said.

Subscription may be required. "You can get some really good knees and hips for $20,000 at some facilities, but some are charging $40,000," says Elaine Daniels, a contract consultant at Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina. The insurer offers bundled hip and knee replacements for its members at five hospitals, at prices that are about 20% lower than the local average.

Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina are partnering on the new Center for Healthcare Innovation, which launches with a pilot program designed to reduce hospital readmissions.

Wake Forest University has received a $3 million gift from Blue Cross Blue Shield to help the school promote well-being at the university, Wake Forest officials said.

Is the practice of charging one inclusive payment for surgical services, sometimes called “bundled payments,” the future of joint replacement surgery? Executives at Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) and the surgeons at Triangle Orthopaedic Associates (TOA) believe that it is.

Many insurers will offer individual policies outside the Obamacare exchanges in 2014. Consumers can avoid the exchanges by buying plans directly from insurers or through brokers.

North Carolina's largest health insurer is telling consumers how much it will charge individuals under terms of the Affordable Care Act.