WellPoint Watch Launches Campaign to Urge Customers to Demand Public Hearings in WellPoint/WellChoice Merger
19 Octobre 2005 - 3:19PM
PR Newswire (US)
Action Center allows Empire Blue Cross customers to email Insurance
Regulators to air grievances INDIANAPOLIS, Oct. 19 /PRNewswire/ --
The following release is being issued by WellPoint Watch. Wellpoint
Watch is brought to you by the Service Employees International
Union and is not affiliated with WellPoint Inc.: On September 27,
2005, WellPoint (NYSE:WLP) announced its intention to purchase
WellChoice (NYSE:WC), the parent company of Empire Blue Cross.
WellPoint's last acquisition of a major insurance company unleashed
a wave of criticism from policymakers in California and Georgia in
2004. Yet the company looks to grow still larger. A new report on
the company's track record provides Blue Cross customers in New
York and New Jersey with the knowledge they need to advocate for
scrutiny of WellPoint's proposed acquisition as the deal comes
before state regulators. The website,
http://www.wellpointwatch.org/mergers.html, also allows Empire
customers to email and fax key decision makers in New York and New
Jersey asking them to hold a public hearing and urges them to
demand concessions similar to those that insurance regulators in
California and Georgia did during WellPoint's last merger. Bottom
Line: WellPoint's War on Patients and Doctors documents a history
of abuses by the company and a pattern of unfairly denying
reasonable and medically necessary claims, even in life-and-death
situations. The report, along with other resources for Wellpoint
and WellChoice customers, is available at
http://www.wellpointwatch.org/. Bottom Line also provides valuable
information for companies and organizations that are considering
changing their health coverage to another provider. The release of
the report and website is part of a campaign to inform current and
future WellPoint customers about the company's business practices
so that they may become more actively involved in their state's
regulatory and consumer protection processes. Among the findings in
the report that can help inform regulators' decisions on the
WellPoint-WellChoice deal are: -- WellPoint increased health
insurance premiums in California just three months after the merger
closed, even though Wellpoint CEO Larry Glasscock publicly stated,
"I want to reaffirm once again, and I've said this several times,
that premiums will not be raised as a result of this merger." --
After a nasty public fight, California regulators won $250 million
in concessions from WellPoint to benefit underserved communities
before they approved the merger. Georgia regulators also required
that Wellpoint make $126.5 million in concessions. -- WellPoint has
paid almost $400 million in the past three months as a result of
settlements or damages stemming from lawsuits brought against the
company. Among the cases is a $1.5 million judgment paid to the
United States which alleged that Anthem included "impermissible
profit" in its charges to the Government, and a $198 million
settlement of its share of a federal racketeering lawsuit in which
Wellpoint and several of its competitors were accused of using
"coercive" measures to "defraud physicians, enrich themselves at
physicians' and patients' expense, break contracts, and otherwise
jeopardize patient welfare." DATASOURCE: Service Employees
International Union CONTACT: Paul Price for WellPoint Watch,
+1-773-343-7844 Web site:
http://www.wellpointwatch.org/mergers.html
http://www.wellpointwatch.org/
Copyright
Wellchoice (NYSE:WC)
Graphique Historique de l'Action
De Juin 2024 à Juil 2024
Wellchoice (NYSE:WC)
Graphique Historique de l'Action
De Juil 2023 à Juil 2024
Real-Time news about Wellchoice (New York Stock Exchange): 0 recent articles
Plus d'articles sur Wellchoice Cmn