Feb 12 2010
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen
Sebelius issued the following statement after receiving a letter from
WellPoint Incorporated. The letter came after Sebelius called on Anthem
Blue Cross to publicly justify its decision to raise premiums for its
California customers by as much as 39 percent. WellPoint Incorporated is
the parent company of Anthem Blue Cross and earned $2.7 billion in the
last quarter of 2009. Sebelius’ statement is below:
“It remains difficult to understand how a company that made $2.7 billion
in the last quarter of 2009 alone can justify massive increases that
will leave consumers with nothing but bad options: pay more for
coverage, cut back on benefits or join the ranks of the uninsured. High
health care costs alone cannot account for a premium increase that is 10
times higher than national health spending growth. Without comprehensive
reform, fewer people will be able to afford health insurance and
Anthem's decision to raise their rates only demonstrates the urgent need
for real reforms that fix our broken health insurance system. Reform
will end the worst insurance company practices and put doctors and
patients -- not insurance companies -- in charge of medical decisions.
If we fail to implement reform, insurance companies will continue to
prosper while families will continue to struggle.”