California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones said he will attempt to ban Anthem Blue Cross, the state's largest for-profit health insurer, from selling small business health plans on the exchange due to past rate hikes he said have been excessive, according to a report by the Los Angeles Times.
Anthem, a subsidiary of the second-largest health insurer, WellPoint, has already been approved to sell individual plans on the state exchange and would still be able to contract with groups outside of the exchanges.
Anthem announced earlier this year its rates for small businesses will increase 18 percent on average for roughly 37,000 employees and their dependents due to the "economic reality" of the cost of healthcare, according to the report.
California law gives Mr. Jones' office the authority to review and evaluate rate increases, but not to block them. Anthem is the only health insurer with three consecutive proposed rate increases Mr. Jones has deemed unreasonable, according to the report.
Critics of the move say it limits competition the exchanges were intended to foster and removes a popular choice for small businesses to buy company health plans from the tax benefits of the exchanges.
Mr. Jones told the Los Angeles Times, "We are doing everything we can to make sure there are consequences for these unreasonable rate increases."
The final decision comes down to the leadership of Covered California, the state's exchange body, which has said it will decide by August which plans to allow onto the exchanges.
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