State attorney general targets health insurers

The California attorney general's office opened an investigation Thursday into allegations that the state's largest health insurers were rejecting medical claims at alarming rates. ...

... The nurses union said some of the companies had denial rates between 27 percent and 40 percent during the first six months of this year, with PacifiCare rejecting 39.6 ercent of claims it received.

The CNA said Cigna rejected 32.7 percent, Health Net 30 percent, Kaiser Permanente 28.3 percent and Blue Cross 27.9 percent.

You only THINK you have insurance.

Claiming it's losing money on individual policies, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan was approved for a 22% rate hike on premiums a few days ago. In an example that shows how bizzare our health care system is in this nation, the rate hike was hailed as a victory by state officials since the company had originally requested hikes of 56 percent for nongroup rates and 41 percent for group-conversion rates.

Consumers who buy their own medical insurance through Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan will see their monthly premiums rise in October by an average 22 percent.

Partners, insurer under scrutiny

Attorney General Martha Coakley has launched an investigation into whether the state's largest health insurance company and its largest healthcare provider may have illegally colluded to increase the price of health insurance statewide over the last nine years, according to several legal and government sources.

The attorney general sent formal demands for information to Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts and Partners HealthCare late last week, the sources say, calling for a detailed account of their contract negotiations in recent years.