South Carolina Health Insurance Market Among Least Competitive: AMA

An American Medical Association analysis found that South Carolina has one of the country’s least competitive health insurance markets.

The country’s leading lobby group for physicians said South Carolina has the seventh least competitive commercial insurance markets after Alabama, Hawaii, Michigan, Delaware, Alaska, and North Dakota. A single insurer accounted for a majority share of the health insurance market in each state.

The AMA report said Blue Cross and Blue Shield holds 60 percent of South Carolina’s health insurance market, with Cigna next at 15 percent.

North Carolina’s Blue Cross and Blue Shield plan holds nearly half the state’s insurance market, followed by UnitedHealthcare at 18 percent. The two-thirds share held by Blue Cross and UnitedHealthcare is down from about 80 percent in last year’s AMA report.