Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama, Inc. v. John O. Nielsen, D.M.D.

Summary

Answering two questions certified by the Eleventh Circuit, the Supreme Court of Alabama held that Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama, a nonprofit corporation organized under Ala. Code § 10-4-100 et seq., is exempted by §§ 10-4-115 and 27-1-4 from the Alabama Provider Acts — the Assignment Act, the Dental Care Services Act, and the Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage Act — because insurance statutes govern § 10-4-100 corporations only if expressly made applicable to them. Applying the plain meaning of the exemption statutes and the presumption that the Legislature knows existing law, the court concluded the Legislature would have expressly amended § 10-4-100 et seq. had it intended the Provider Acts to reach Blue Cross. The court further held that the exemption statutes do not violate the Alabama Constitution: they impose no additional legislative-enactment requirement, and because they apply equally to every entity organized under § 10-4-100, they do not exempt Blue Cross from a general law for its sole benefit. No separate opinions were filed.