California Subpoenas Financial Records Of Seven Biggest Insurers
"The California state attorney general's office said Thursday that it had subpoenaed financial records of California's seven largest health insurance companies as part of an investigation into whether they illegally raised customer premiums and denied payment of legitimate claims," the Los Angeles Times reports. "Prosecutors said they sought documents from Anthem Blue Cross, Aetna Health, Blue Shield of California, Cigna, Health Net, Kaiser Permanente and PacifiCare."
The California Assembly's Rules Committee also "authorized a subpoena to force Anthem to hand over documents related to proposed rate hikes of as much as 39% for California customers' individual policies. The action was a rarity at the Capitol. Lawmakers last used subpoena power in 2000 during an investigation into corruption in the office of then-Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush" (Helfand and Lifsher, 2/25).