As a trained physician, lawyer and business consultant, J.D. Hickey knows about trying to heal sickness - in people and in businesses.
The Atlanta native was recruited to Tennessee from McKinsey & Co. in Washington D.C. when he was just 33 years old to help then Gov. Phil Bredesen fix TennCare, the state's Medicaid program which was threatening to rob the rest of the state budget. Hickey helped lead controversial reforms that cut the rolls of those eligible for Medicaid benefits in Tennessee but helped state government get program costs under control.
In 2016, five years after being hired to a top job with BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee in Chattanooga, Hickey pushed through another round of difficult changes in BlueCross's individual health exchange plans to limit ongoing losses for the insurer. Hickey, who became CEO of BlueCross in 2015, is trying to limit losses from the first three years of Obamacare plans the company estimates could approach $500 million.
In response, BlueCross will scale back where it offers individual health exchange policies in 2017 even after raising premiums on those still getting coverage by an average 62 percent. The Chattanooga insurer had debuted its individual health plans under ObamaCare three years ago at some of the lowest rates in the country across all of Tennessee, but Hickey said the population that signed up for those plans turned out to be sicker and more costly than what was forecast.
"On the pricing, we simply got it wrong and we've had to make some large changes to try to bring our rates more in line with our medical costs," Hickey says.
BlueCross in Tennessee was not alone among health insurers and such premium increases may push the new president and GOP-controlled Congress next year to repeal ObamaCare altogether.
But while the political debate over Obamacare elevated the attention on individual health exchange policies, most of BlueCross' other business lines are continuing to grow and perform well. BlueCross is the fastest growing provider of Medicare supplement plans in Tennessee and BlueCross continues to advance its quality initiatives, earning top 4-star ratings in its Medicare, Medicaid and commercial lines of business.
As Washington prepares another battle over how to reform health care insurance next year, Hickey's BlueCross maintains the biggest market share and boasts the most well known name among insurers in Tennessee. The Tennessee BlueCross plan, a not-for-profit business founded in Chattanooga in 1945, is the state's biggest health insurer with more than 3.4 million members and the biggest private employer in Hamilton County with close to 6,000 employees across Tennessee.
"I, personally, am very much wedded to our independence as a Blues plan," Hickey said last year after he was elevated to CEO at BlueCross. "We are all about Tennessee."
Most Valuable Players
What business leaders were the most influential in shaping the local economy in 2016? In the Chattanooga region, 2016 was a year of building for the future. The first new nuclear reactor of the 21st century and the biggest plant construction project ever in the region was completed, while a record amount of new housing, hotel and retail development was launched in downtown Chattanooga to soon double the number of residents in the central city. One of the biggest floorcovering plants took shape in North Georgia as two carpet companies combined and Chattanooga's airport added another airline and parking facility. Tennessee's biggest heath insurer prepared to implement its biggest rate hike under the so-called Obamacare program, while the business trio that built one of Chattanooga's most successful startups in the past decade began a fund and program to bring more logistics companies to Chattanooga. The individuals who led such efforts and did the most to reshape the regional economy are our Most valuable Players in business in 2016. Our top list of MVPs includes both seasoned veterans and newly named heads of local businesses and reflects the diversity of Chattanooga's changing economy. * Tennessee American Water President Valoria Armstrong pushes new boundaries * Dynamo Accelerator's founders get back to their trucking industry roots * River City President Kim White helps bring record investment to Chattanooga's central city * Developer Chris Curtis revitalizing MLK with Douglas Heights, other projects * Terry Hart charts a growth course for Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport * Stacy Lightfoot helps students 'Step Up' and learn through internships * Bob Shaw grows Engineered Floors to four plants, 3,000 employees * DeFoor brothers embark on $88 million of new projects in central city * Mike Skaggs leads startup of first new nuke in America in two decades * BlueCross CEO J.D. Hickey scales back individual coverage amid tumult in Obamacare* These are Chattanooga's most influential business leaders