A California bill would require Oakland-based Kaiser Permanente to disclose details on how it calculates health plan rates and spends money, according to a Los Angeles Times report.
The system offered the most affordable insurance option in 2007, but some of its customers are now complaining the company is no longer a bargain and cannot fully explain why premiums continue to rise.
The legislation is seen as a sign of pushback from some interest groups, including city officials, large labor unions and the AARP. Some employers have grown especially frustrated recently over Kaiser's latest rate hikes, according to the report. The rate for the California Public Employees' Retirement System, for instance, has risen by 65 percent since 2007 compared with a 50 percent increase in the same timeframe for Blue Shield of California's HMO rates.
Kaiser runs 37 hospitals across the country, owns more than 600 medical clinics and has more than 17,000 physicians on its payroll, according to the system's website. It has become the largest health plan in California, grabbing more than 40 percent of the market.
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