BCBS dominates NC health insurance markets

Competition, when it comes to group health insurance, remains pretty much Blue Cross Blue Shield of N.C.—and the rest of the pack in the Triad and statewide. Blue Cross holds a 48 percent market share in the state for all commercial health products, according to a 2012 study by the American Medical Association on health insurance competition. UnitedHealthcare is second at 18 percent. The AMA said it determined, as it has in the past, "a significant absence of health insurer competition" in 70 percent of the 385 metropolitan areas it surveyed nationwide.