Update: A.G. blasts forum on health-insurance rate hikes
3:13 PM Fri, Jun 12, 2009 | Permalink
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PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Attorney Gen. Patrick Lynch is calling state Health Commissioner Christopher F. Koller's decision to hold a public forum on double-digit rate hike requests an "empty gesture." Koller announced late Thursday that he had scheduled a forum on Monday night to receive public comment on the rates proposed byTufts Health Plan, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Rhode Island and UnitedHealthCare of New England. Lynch is demanding that Koller hold a formal rate hearing, a quasi-judicial procedure in which evidence may be introduced and witnesses may testify and be cross-examined. A representative of the attorney general would be entitled to be a party at the hearing, along with insurance providers. "The Health Insurance Commissioner continues to deny the public the right to examine and critique what he has described as the insurers' 'ample evidence' justifying these rate hikes at a full and fair hearing," Lynch said in a statement. "All this announcement does is extend the public comment period by two working days. It denies this office's Insurance Advocate and the people of Rhode Island the right to use experts to review the documents that were prepared by the insurers' experts. ... "This 'open forum' is an empty gesture that causes me to question whether the commissioner is out of touch with Rhode Islanders' daily struggles in the midst of our state's ongoing recession. Our simple, logical request, which we've made on behalf of small businesses and everyday rate payers, has gone unanswered and so now I must ask again: Why won't Commissioner Koller give us a real hearing?" The forum will be held at 6 p.m. Monday at the state Public Utilities Commission office at 89 Jefferson Blvd., in Warwick. Blue Cross has proposed rate hikes starting this fall of 13.9 percent for small employers and 16.3 percent for large employers, while United is seeking increases of 11.6 percent and 13.2 percent. Tufts is not currently selling such insurance in Rhode Island this year. Koller said later Friday that he could still opt to hold a formal rate hearing before he decides whether to accept, reject or modify the request rates. By law, it would have to begin by July 14, which is 60 days from the filing of the rate proposals. In his past four years as commissioner, he has not held a formal rate hearing, he said. "We may determine to hold a rate hearing. We just haven't made that determination yet," Koller said. "If I think there is sufficient information to make a ruling, then a rate hearing is not necessary." The insurance providers may request a rate hearing following the commissioner's decision on their rate proposals, as a way to appeal his decision. Blue Cross recently defended its rate hikes in a letter sent to the state's top elected officials. "When I first saw the size of the required increase, I was sick," President and CEO James E. Purcell wrote in the June 4 letter. "But the vast majority of this increase comes from increases in claims expense. We simply cannot ignore the facts and request rates that are inadequate. Given the increased costs of health care services, our current rates are simply insufficient to cover the total cost of the coverage we offer. "It is our duty to ensure that BCBSRI does not disappear like so many other corporations. Hundreds of thousands of Rhode islanders depend on us every day to insure them and their loves ones against medical expenses of all sizes. We must be there for them through thick and thin, and we will be, as we have been for the past 70 years." Purcell said that the non-profit health insurer's reserves are "below the range the OHIC [Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner) established" and that a 2.4-percent increase in administrative spending appears "like a much large request" because of "the compexities of statutory accounting." "Please know that I personally reviewed this filing and approved it. It is actuarially justified," Purcell said. Among those who received the letter were Governor Carcieri, Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts, Lynch, Senate Majority Leader M. Teresa Paiva Weed, House Speaker William J. Murphy, House Majority Leader Gordon Fox and other General Assembly leaders. Roberts, who recently joined with business leaders in opposing the rate hikes, said she will speak out against the requested rate hikes at Monday's forum. This corrects an earlier version which had the wrong date for the deadline for Koller to begin a rate hearing.
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What if everyone stopped paying for health care?? Just show up at the ER, it's free for Illegals must be free for citizens??
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