State officials are continuing discussions of a possible $2.5 billion sale of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana, a non-profit health insurer used by nearly half of the state's residents, to a much larger for-profit insurer based in Indiana

A legislative committee held a nearly eight-hour meeting Monday to consider the proposed sale of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana to Elevance Health, one of the nation’s largest insurers, The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate reported.

Proponents of the proposed sale say that under Elevance there would be improved services and technology for 1.9 million Louisiana customers

As part of the proposed agreement, Elevance, which runs Blue Cross-branded insurers in more than a dozen other states, would take over the Blue Cross brand and customer base in Louisiana.