Fans, foes weigh in on Blue Cross rules
Gilbert Chan
Sacramento Bee
In re-examining the agreement, Department of Managed Health Care officials spent five hours listening to a parade of speakers praise Blue Cross as a good corporate citizen or lambaste it as an industry powerhouse that puts profits before patient care during a Los Angeles hearing available to media statewide via a conference call.
Consumer activists and doctors accuse Blue Cross of reneging on promises made three years ago to win state approval of the $16.5 billion merger between its corporate parent -- WellPoint Health Networks Inc. -- and Indianapolis-based Anthem Inc.
The deal created the nation's largest health plan, with 34 million members and $60 billion in revenue. Blue Cross covers more than 8.3 million Californians.
"We're approaching the end of some of those merger commitments. The concerns expressed by the physician and hospital communities and our own concerns ... all have raised red flags that we must pay attention to," Cindy Ehnes, director of the Department of Managed Health Care, said in a telephone interview before the hearing.
Ehnes declined to speculate whether the state would push to extend a pact with Blue Cross that expires in November.
Since the merger, the state has received hundreds of complaints about Blue Cross business practices -- from claims handling to premium increases.
In March, the state fined Blue Cross $1 million for improperly dropping customers to avoid paying health claims.
Last month, the state Department of Insurance cited WellPoint's Blue Cross Life & Health unit for wrongfully revoking some policies for those with individual health plans. Regulators also are reviewing a $950 million revenue payment -- or dividend -- that Blue Cross sent to its corporate parent earlier this year.
August 8, 2007 at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Blog Reactions
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