Fines

California fines Blue Shield, Anthem Blue Cross $13 million

California regulators have issued fines to both Blue Shield and Anthem Blue Cross on Thursday, worth a total of $13 million.

State regulators fined Anthem Blue Cross $10 million, and Blue Shield of California $3 million.

The health insurance companies agreed to pay the settlement which will also have them restoring health coverage to those whose policies they got rid of.

The settlement will impact some 1,770 members from Anthem Blue Cross, and 450 members from Blue Shield. These numbers represent the total number of people who had their policies pulled over the last 4 years.

These are the last two health insurance companies to be investigated by the state.

They were questioned as to why they canceled the contracts of several members who were suspected of lying about health information.

Agreements have already been made with other companies as well such as Kaiser Permanente, Health Net, and PacifiCare.

(Published by db Techno - july 18, 2008)