Reports that Anthem Blue Cross is raising premiums on some customers by 39 percent on March 1, have prompted the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, to write a letter to the company, Golden State’s largest private insurer, asking the company to “provide a detailed justification for these rate increases to the public.”
“Additionally, you should make public information on the percent of your individual market premiums that is used for medical care versus the percent that is used for administrative costs,” Sebelius wrote, noting that the profits of Anthem Blue Cross’s parent company, WellPoint Incorporated, have soared.
The company earned $2.7 billion in just the last quarter of 2009. Quarterly sales went from $15.1 billion to $19 billion — a 26% rise.
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