Georgia's former insurance commissioner, John Oxedine, explained his views about how the "Big Three" insurance providers will ultimately harm consumers, according to jacksonville.com.
Here are five notes:
1. The recent health insurance mergers will prohibit competitive balance to control prices.
2. Mr. Oxedine claimed if the recent Aetna-Humana and Anthem-Cigna mergers are approved, states should be concerned about prices rapidly increasing.
3. Mr. Oxedine approved WellPoint's acquisition of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia while he was in office. He claimed the deal is different from recent mergers because the WellPoint deal did not affect competition. WellPoint had no operations in Georgia at that time.
4. Graham Thompson, leader of the Georgia Association of Health Plans, defended the latest insurers' mergers by stating the insurers will endure much more scrutiny than mergers between hospitals.
5. Mr. Oxedine filed a lawsuit against Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia, claiming the insurer fraudulently continued to charge high premiums to customers while simultaneously cutting payments to out-of-network medical providers.
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