Pa. Insurer Merger Talks Uncover Adviser Payments

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Written by Stephanie Wasek

Monday, 16 June 2008

A Pennsylvania Insurance Department hearing on the proposed merger between Independence Blue Cross and Highmark "took an unexpected twist," and "was all about how much the Insurance Department's consultants were being paid ? and, more surprising, who was paying them," the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

According to the Inquirer article, Philadelphia-based Independence Blue Cross and Pittsburgh-based Highmark "are not only paying for their own consultants, but are also footing the bill for the department's consultants," a revelation that has raised questions in the state legislature.

"This is almost like the fox guarding the chicken coop," state Sen. Donald White (R), chairman of the Senate's Insurance and Banking Committee, is quoted as saying. "I don't understand how we get an objective opinion when the burden is being paid by the parties that have a vested interest in this."

The merger, if approved by the state Insurance Department, would create the largest health insurer in Pennsylvania. Read the full story here.