Here’s the opening statement of California Congressman Henry Waxman, the chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, as he and subcommittee chair Bart Stupak hold a hearing today on the rate increases of Anthem Blue Cross of California, and its parent company, Wellpoint.
The documents also tell a story of potential huge, new premium rate increases still to come.
* WellPoint says that its rate increases have nothing to do with increasing company profits. But an internal company e-mail says that its rate increase would “return CA to target profit of 7 percent.”
* WellPoint says that its rate increases are absolutely necessary. But its internal company documents describe a plan to build in “a cushion” to “allow for negotiations.” The company told its board of directors that its average “rate ask” would be 25%, but that its final “rate increase” would be only 20%.
* Other documents raise the possibility that WellPoint may have manipulated its actuarial assumptions to keep its medical loss ratio, a key measure reviewed by California regulators, “flat.”
* The documents we have reviewed show WellPoint is proposing its highest increases on its more generous plans. At the same time, it is actively developing new products, called “downgrade options,” that reduce benefits for its policyholders.
As we will hear from the witnesses on our first panel, this “purging” process cuts coverage for WellPoint policyholders when they need it most: when they get sick.
And the WellPoint documents point to a future of even higher rate increases. WellPoint told Committee staff that WellPoint voluntarily capped its maximum rate increases at 39%. If WellPoint had not done this, some policyholders could have faced rate increases of over 200%.
One question we asked is where does all of this money go. We have learned that in 2008, WellPoint paid 39 senior executives over $1 million each. And the company spent tens of millions of dollars more on expensive corporate retreats. During 2007 and 2008, WellPoint spent $27 million on 103 executive retreats. One retreat in Scottsdale, Arizona cost over $3 million…