Lawmakers Grill WellPoint Execs Over Profits, Rate Hikes

[IndianaGreen]

Source: WRTV-6

Lawmakers Grill WellPoint Execs Over Profits, Rate Hikes

Legislators Question Health Insurer Executives
Norman Cox, Capitol Watchdog

POSTED: 5:30 pm EST February 17, 2010
UPDATED: 6:34 pm EST February 17, 2010

INDIANAPOLIS -- Indiana lawmakers on Wednesday grilled executives with Indianapolis-based health insurer WellPoint over record profits and ballooning salaries in the face of huge rate hikes.

WellPoint Inc. blamed a shift in demographics and rising medical costs for its planned 39 percent rate hike for some California customers, telling Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius that because of the weak economy, healthy people are dropping coverage or buying cheaper plans.

<snip>

Democrats also turned their fire on the insurance department regulators appointed by Gov. Mitch Daniels.

They said they were stunned to find that the department only examines how much money a particular policy is making when deciding a rate increase, and does not consider how much money a company is making overall.

"It's not an inquiry that we make, what they do with (the money)," explained acting Insurance Commissioner Doug Webber.

Both sides talked about getting back together with ideas on how to hold down the cost of health care in general and insurance in particular.

WellPoint said a minority of customers will see 39 percent increases and that those customers have an option to choose plans with a lower premium but higher out-of-pocket costs.

Read more: http://www.theindychannel.com/news/22593710/detail.html

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Evan Bayh's wife Susan sits on the board of WellPoint.

[Don Caballero]

1. MItch Daniels is such a tool

[saracat]

2. Is this why Bayh quit????????

[midnight]

8. That's what I was thinking too.

[radical noodle]

3. It's about time.

They were going to raise the rates for us 30% (I'm in Indiana). No one said a word until California started to complain. This is not the first time they've done this, they've just gotten away with it in the past.

[msongs]

4. how many of these same "politicians" will soon cash their wellpoint campaign donation checks? nt

[704wipes]

5. I call BULLSHIT on Wellpoint

"because of the weak economy, healthy people are dropping coverage or buying cheaper plans."

BULL.SHIT.

That may be true to an extent, but the other purpose of these obscene rate hikes, combined with higher deductibles, co-pays, and OOP = 'out of pockets' are to FORCE others less healthy off of their plans and to place it out of reach of people who want to continue on it as a COBRA policy once they are laid off or right sized, downsized or Bayhsized. That is a HUGE part of what is going on, not that they will ever be called on it. The congress and legislatures ought to subpoena their 'drops' leading up to this and following this, and then they will see that immediately following this huge amounts of 50 somethings using it as a COBRA plan have said fuck it, but THAT is what these insurance thieves actually want it to do.

[tomm2thumbs]

6. Dog + Pony =

you guessed it

[maryf]

7. 39% just doesn't sound as bad as 40% does it...nt

[eridani]

9. The problem here is that they will chew out Wellpoint--

--and not do a damned thing to regulate them or other insurers.