Keeping Health Care Affordable Goal of Attorney General

Summary

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No other state agency or department, outside of the Governor's office, affects as many people as the Department of Attorney General. And the Attorney General's office has been aggressive in pursuing a number of goals to benefit the citizens of this state, especially the fight to keep health care rates affordable.

The Blues were created in 1939 and given a social missjion; part of that mission includes serving as Michigan's "insurer of last resort." In exchange, Blue Cross is tax-exempt This tax-exemption benefits the Blues by at least $82 million each year, by its own admission.

The bills passed by the House would also eliminate Governor Granholm's ability to provide oversight of rates, by eliminating the ability of the Commissioner of OFER to set rates. As a result, all state oversight - including the Attorney General's ability to intervene and fight for lower rates - for any of Blue Cross's future rate hikes would, for all practical purposes, be wiped out.

[...] the Blues are pushing for a series of changes that would do the following: * Deny coverage of pre-existing illnesses for 12 months, a doubling of denial time; * Charge new customers with chronic diseases such as diabetes up to 80% more; * Charge new customers with serious illnesses such as cancer up to 250% more; * Enable the Blues to triple their margins for administrative expenses and profits; and, * Eliminate oversight by the Attorney General and the Governor's Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation (OFIR).

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Extract

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Keeping Health Care Affordable Goal of Attorney General

No other state agency or department, outside of the Governor's office, affects as many people as the Department of Attorney General. And the Attorney General's office has been aggressive in pursuing a number o...

See the full content of this document

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