Insurer gets another chance at rate hike

From the Santa Fe New Mexican.com - Two weeks after state Insurance Superintendent John Franchini rejected its request, Blue Cross Blue Shield New Mexico will get a second shot to make a case for a 9.9 percent rate hike on 27,000 health care policyholders. Meanwhile, the company that covers more than 300,000 New Mexicans filed a separate request last week to raise the cost of health care premiums by 9.9 percent on 7,000 additional policyholders. An administrative hearing is scheduled in December to reconsider Blue Cross Blue Shield's request to raise rates on the 27,000 policyholders, Franchini confirmed Thursday. "There will be hearing officer assigned," Franchini said. "He is going to be directing the hearing. Information will be gathered from both parties and he will make a recommendation. He will hand it to me." The company requested the administrative hearing because a rejection of its rate hike request is "harmful to our company and the competitive environment for health insurance in our state," a Blue Cross Blue Shield spokeswoman said via email. If approved, the rate hike would represent the second in as many years for the 27,000 policyholders, who endured a rate hike approved last year that increased costs for each policyholder by 18 percent to 25 percent. Read more

Insurer gets another chance at rate hike