Corporate Research Group’s Weblog

In short, they never ran. 

Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina took a lot of heat a couple of months ago for its involvement in a series of planned Harry and Louise-like online videos slamming Obama’s proposed government-run health plan.

The videos were supposed to run on the company’s NChealthreform web site, according to the Washington Post, which had obtained copies of the video storyboards.  NChealthreform was launched in June to provide a platform for BCBS-NC’s views on healthcare reform.

But according to a BCBS-NC spokesman, the videos never made it past the planning stage and were never vetted by senior management, including company chief executive Bob Grezcyn.  The question is whether the videos were killed because of the negative press?  No, says the spokesman, adding that the company had already moved on when the storyboards were leaked.

So where does BCBS-NC stand on the government-run plan?  Like the rest of the managed care industry, it’s opposed, as Grezcyn explains in a video that did get released on NChealthreform.  It’s a softer sell than the videos that never happened, but the point is essentially the same.

The whole ugly episode was the second big black eye for BCBS-NC this year — the other being its involvement in the North Carolina State Health Plan fiasco (see prior post).

But I’m going to give BCBS-NC a pass on the videos that never ran.  I’ve known Greczyn for some time, and he’s always struck me as a straight-shooter.  Btw, he’s been pulling for universal coverage of the uninsured and a role for government for some time (see video). 

The Harry and Louise-esque videos were a bad idea (like Bob’s tie), and one way or another (on its own if you believe the spokesman or because of a backlash) the company realized its mistake before it did something uncalled for.