Connecticut Issues Subpoenas In Insurance-Industry Inquiry

[banana republican]

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Subpoenas issued by Connecticut's attorney general to 42 of the country's biggest insurers and insurance brokers require the firms to identify any instances of fake bids since the beginning of 1998.

The subpoenas, the contents of which haven't been previously disclosed, also require the firms to identify any instances of bid information being shared among competing insurers. They also demand any memos, contracts, appointment books and other material related to any instances of fake bids or bid-information sharing.

The subpoenas indicate that Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal's investigation of possible bid-rigging and price fixing in the insurance industry is sweeping but hasn't settled on any specific target.

Mr. Blumenthal's inquiry is one of the most advanced of the many state probes under way, outside the high-profile one by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. Mr. Spitzer's probe led to a civil suit last month against giant insurance brokerage firm Marsh & McLennan Cos., accusing it of bid-rigging in an effort to steer business to insurers paying it special commissions.

http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB110021355855671948,00.html?mod=DLW

[maddezmom]

1. here's a link for those that don't subscribe to WSJ

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2004/11/14/ag_probes_state_health_insurers/?rss_id=Boston%20Globe%20--%20Business%20News