Kansas insurance chief rules against Anthem plan

Kansas’ insurance watchdog this month ruled against a plan by Anthem Insurance Cos. to buy the state’s Blue Cross and Blue Shield company, saying the sale wouldn’t be good for policy holders.

Commissioner of Insurance Kathleen Sebelius ruled that the sale to the Indiana-based company would be “unreasonable to policyholders and not in the public interest and hazardous and prejudicial to the insurance-buying public.”

She said in a prepared statement that she was guided in part by a commitment to “making consumers a top priority and protecting the business owners, individuals, seniors and families that depend on insurance in their times of need.”

The sale would raise insurance rates particularly for individuals and small groups, she wrote in her order.

The proposed sale ran into opposition in Kansas just as the proposed sale of the Maine Blues to Anthem ran into trouble with consumer and medical organizations in Maine after it was proposed in 1999. Maine Superintendent of Insurance Alessandro Iuppa approved the sale with conditions in April 2000, but his decision is still being challenged in the courts.

Anthem is now the largest private health insurer in Maine.

The Kansas Blues, which insure 750,000 Kansans, decided Tuesday to appeal the Sebelius’ decision.