January 24, 2007

Wellpoint chief pans guv's health plan

Health insurers generally reacted positively to Schwarzenegger's plan when he released it earlier this month. But in private they have been a little less laudatory. And little by little they are pointing out pieces of the plan that they could, well, live without.

Yesterday, the president and CEO of Wellpoint -- the Blue Cross parent -- told reporters and analysts that his company doesn't like the proposal to require insurers to spend 85 percent of premiums on services. He said because administrative costs are fixed, the limit would prevent the firm from offering low-cost plans where the percentage spent on admin would be higher.

You can read his comments here.

Posted by dweintraub on January 24, 2007 1:48 PM