Tension Thick At Insurance Hikes Hearing As Dems Demand CEO Salary Disclosure

U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce Chairman Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA)
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Sparks were flying at hearings today probing an expected 39 percent rate hike for Anthem Blue Cross customers in California as Democrats pilloried the insurer as greedy and Republicans used the event another platform to oppose health care reform.

Anthem parent company WellPoint’s CEO Angela Braly was the main focus of Democratic ire and members of the Oversight subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee asked her to explain why such a profitable company was increasing rates so drastically.

“It’s a difficult situation,” she said, detailing the costs of care on the rise in California and across the country.

Braly said even for WellPoint to break even “the rates would have been in the 20s in terms of the overall average.”

Rep. Jan Schakowsky told Braly she wasn’t there to get lectured about the insurer’s needs. Instead she wanted justification for the increases.

Schakowsky (D-IL) peppered Braly with questions and forced her to disclose that her salary last year was $1.1 million plus stock compensation.

“Of course it makes sense that you need a big rate increase now that you told us that,” Schakowsky responded.

Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) said at the hearing the thousands of pages of WellPoint documents obtained by the panel told a story about reduced benefits and massive profits.

He said the documents show WellPoint is “seeking out new customers who are healthier and wealthier” and that “huge new premium increases are still to come.”

Rep. Phil Gingery (R-GA) used the hearing to call for starting over on the health care bills, blasting “secret meetings” he accused Democrats of having with the White House to negotiate the legislation. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) countered she was “offended” he was injecting that issue into an important hearing that shouldn’t be partisan.

“Every American should have quality health care,” Gingrey said. “The majority of Americans and overwhelming majority of Congress strongly agree, yet we sit here without health reform bill because Washington continues to pursue a bill which they cannot sell to American people.”

Republicans attacked Democrats as holding the hearings only to provide political ammunition for passing health care reform, and used their opening statements to say why they oppose the health care legislation that will be discussed tomorrow at the White House.

Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) complained the timing was “too coincidental” since the bipartisan health care summit he mocked as a “six-hour photo op” was happening Thursday.

“I would not attribute to coincidence if it can be adequately explained by conspiracy,” Burgess said.

Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) said it was just a “coincidence” the hearing came before the summit since the date was not on the schedule when they slotted the hearing onto the calendar.

The hearing was announced Feb. 10. The White House publicly announced the summit date on Feb 7.

Health and Human Service Secretary Kathleen Sebelius also today called on the insurers to join her in Washington and talk about the record rate increases expected across the country.

The hearing came as a new Center for American Progress/Action Fund report showed double-digit hikes are expected in as many as 11 states. That’s five more than Sebelius detailed in a report TPMDC published last week.

Additional reporting by Sindhu Sundar

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