NC Healthcare Coverage Blog

When you are going through the procedures for purchasing health insurance, and you have finished the quoting part with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, they will help you make the best selection for you and your family. After this, you will need to supply BCBSNC with the initial premium payment. If a credit card is used, it will be charged at the time that coverage is accepted. Even though your insurance policy’s effective date is thirty days from your acceptance, your credit card will be charged instantly.

Your credit card will be used for the first payment only. All succeeding payments will be billed to you monthly. Actually, BCBSNC will let you pay with the credit card monthly, but the credit card portion of the premium statement must be filled out each month. With monthly billing, most members will pay with a check because it tends to be easier.

Arranging to have your account automatically debited, is most likely the easiest method to ensure that your health insurance payment is taken care of every month. All you have to do is to give them your name as it is printed on your check and the routing and account numbers. It really is better for everyone involved, mainly because you don’t have to remember to write a check each month. It would be terrible to have your insurance lapse, simply because you were too busy or on vacation. It is less costly and more green for the environment for BCBSNC to debit your account than to deal with a paper check and send you a paper bill.

If you have to cancel your insurance, you don’t need to worry about BCBSNC forgetting to stop your automatic debit. Unlike some businesses that carelessly forget to stop automatic debit once a customer ceases business, BCBSNC is extremely conscientious when it comes to stopping automatic debits on time. The North Carolina Department of Insurance regulates all North Carolina insurance companies, so as long as you follow the right steps to end an automatic debit, there shouldn’t be any problems. All you have to do is to give BCBSNC a letter asking for cancellation of your policy on a certain date, the policy number, the names of persons covered on the policy and your signature.

Blue Advantage BCBSNC bank draft transactions are processed on the 5th of the month in which a policy is effective. On-going drafts take place on the 5th for bills at the first of the month and 12th and 15th of the month for mid month bills.

The Blue Options HSA(SM) product will always be processed at the 1st of the month bill cycle, no matter when an individual chooses their effective date. With this product, the usual rule for drafts is that they happen on the 2nd day of the month that a policy is effective. The draft will occur right away if it is effective after the second of the month.

For those with the Blue Options HSA(SM) plan with an effective date on the 15th, they could draft right away for only 15 days of the premium, then succeed with an additional full month draft on the next 5th of the month. Here is an example: Effective date is 3/15, enrollment is 3/23 and an immediate draft takes place for 15 days. On 4/5, there is a draft for the full month. Also, a 45 – day draft will happen in this example if enrollment doesn’t occur until 4/1 of after.

To sum up everything mentioned, it is easiest and safest to have BCBSNC automatically debit your checking account each month. But if you still prefer to be billed monthly, use your credit card for the first payment.