Aug 10
26
The Los Angeles Times (8/26, Helfand) reports, “California insurance regulators cleared the way Wednesday for Anthem Blue Cross to implement scaled-back rate hikes after a previous increase was canceled amid an uproar over its size.” The insurer “said it intends to put the new rates — averaging 14% and as high as 20% — into effect Oct. 1 for nearly 800,000 individual California policyholders.” In addition, “regulators also allowed one of Anthem’s nonprofit competitors, Blue Shield of California, to move ahead with rate increases — averaging 19% and as high as 29% — for 250,000 individual policyholders.”
The AP (8/26, Mohajer) reports, “The California Department of Insurance says Blue Shield customers face an average hike of 18.5 percent and Anthem Blue Cross customers face an average 13.4 percent increase.”
