Mike Cox (R)
LANSING, Mich. (Legal Newsline)-Attorney General Mike Cox is asking Blue Cross Blue Shield to disclose their financial records following their recent purchase of an insurance company.
BCBS purchased Physicians Health Plan of Mid-Michigan through its subsidiary company Blue Care Network.
Blue Cross has a history of making loans and transferring cash to its subsidiaries in order to acquire other companies. They have spent over $350 million since 2005 buying other companies.
Cox said he wants to know how they can afford to buy all these companies and at the same time fighting to raise rates on seniors, claiming millions in losses and have asked for rate increases on multiple lines of health insurance.
"Blue Cross and its subsidiaries must explain how they can afford to buy another company even as they fight to raise rates on seniors," Cox said. "Could these funds have been used instead to help avoid rate increases on struggling Michigan residents? Until that question is answered, I will remain skeptical."
Cox, who is seeking the Republican nomination for governor, is currently fighting to keep Blue Cross from raising rates on seniors in an appeal before the Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation.