Anthem Blue Cross and too much greed

As a retired healthcare leader, I find the current proposal by Anthem Blue Cross to raise rates in California by 39 percent for some 700,000 subscribers, quite unbelievable.

I can’t understand how they can possibly argue that a cost increase is needed when their parent company, WellPoint Inc., just announced a huge quarterly gain. ABC News reports they earned a record $2.7 billion in profits for the last quarter of 2009.

Despite millions of Americans suffering financially in this economy, health insurance companies appear to be making plenty of money.

Here is what one recent report found:

According to a study by a pro-health reform group, the nation’s largest five health insurance companies posted a 56 percent gain in 2009 profits over 2008. The insurers include WellPoint, UnitedHealth, Cigna, Aetna and Humana, which cover the majority of Americans with insurance.

The insurers’ hefty profit gains came even as 2.7 million more Americans lost their insurance coverage due to the declining economy. (John Byrne, Raw Story)

After an outcry from the public, pressure from the state insurance commissioner, and the federal government, the company has decided to postpone the rate increase for two months.

When Anthem Blue Cross of California was nonprofit, negotiating with them was somewhat reasonable. However right after they went public and “for profit” the attitude changed, as they clearly appeared driven by the market price of their stock.

For example, their office in Woodland Hills had monitors everywhere with the ticker tape of their stock running continuously.

What a change.

Don Ammon blogs regularly at Action for Better Healthcare.