California Subpoenas Big Health Insurers' Financial Records

[Purveyor]

Source: LA TIMES

The California state attorney general's office said Thursday that it had subpoenaed financial records of California's seven largest health insurance companies as part of an investigation into whether they illegally raised customer premiums and denied payment of legitimate claims.

Prosecutors said they sought documents from Anthem Blue Cross, Aetna Health, Cigna, Blue Shield of California, Kaiser Permanente, Health Net and PacifiCare.

The subpoenas cover health plans that reimburse doctors and hospitals for their services.

The attorney general's efforts come as Anthem and other health insurers nationwide face stepped-up scrutiny over rate hikes by regulators, members of Congress and the Obama administration. President Obama is seeking greater federal authority over insurance-premium increases as part of his national healthcare overhaul.

The investigation into the denial of claims began in September. Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown said his office served subpoenas to the same companies in January over the practices of their health maintenance organizations.

"We have been looking at these companies for a number of months and are very concerned that some of them are unjustly raising premiums and denying payment of legitimate claims," Brown said. "Not only are the rate increases devastating to Californians strapped by the economy, but in some cases, they are possibly illegal."

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-insure-subpoena26-2010feb26,0,3386160.story

[cutlassmama]

1. these insane profits have to be illegal in some way. The doctors and

hospitals are not getting rich, it's big pharma and the insurance companies that are raking in $$$$ at the expense of sick Americans.

[WriteDown]

5. Plenty of doctors are getting rich too. This is why they refuse to see Medicare patients.

Medicare reimbursement is not high enough for them.

[CountAllVotes]

2. You GO JERRY BROWN!!!!

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[grasswire]

3. woo woo Jerry Brown!!

If he can squeeze those buzzers......

We might get some traction at last.

[CountAllVotes]

4. if anyone can nail these bastards it is ...

GOVERNOR JERRY BROWN!!!! :D :D :D

:dem: :kick:

[valerief]

7. +66 trillion

[1776Forever]

6. Did some research on this a few years ago & found out there are hundreds of hidden $$$!

I signed up for reports to be sent to me on-line and they were really interesting! I had no idea one could get so much info from these!

[aquart]

8. Yah. Thing about subpoenas and evidence....

Does it say what'll happen if the documents aren't delivered THIS YEAR? Anything?

Does it say what'll happen if the documents have been rearranged and restapled and placed in completely wrong files? Anything?

I've seen that happen nobody did a thing about it. This was LAWYERS deliberately tampering with evidence and no one batted an eye.

[katanalori]

9. I live in CA, and guess what noise I hear?

The sound of hundreds of SHREDDING MACHINES - Blue Cross headquarters is right down the street (really, it is!)............off to see if the shredding trucks are parked in front or outside the back entrance.

[jtrockville]

10. California's Unfair Competition Law

Brown might have a case regarding the insurance company's refusal to pay for health care costs of their policy holders, but I don't think there's anything in the UCL that prohibits a company from maximizing profit by increasing the price of their snake oil: http://www.lovettlawusa.com/Business-litigation/Unfair-Competition.shtml

[Quantess]

11. Keep us posted on the results!