 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
During the morning session, which attracted about 100 participants and audience members, insurance department commission Joel Ario led the questioning.
He has stressed that a proposed merger's effect on the competitive climate of the state would be the most important consideration as the Pennsylvania Insurance Department dealt with the merger request.
The merger would create the largest health insurer in the state and among the largest in the nation.
Highmark chief executive Kenneth R. Melani said at today's hearing that the companies would not compete, adding that the Philadelphia area "is a very difficult marketplace," and that entering it is "something we would not entertain."
He said the company does not have relationships with health-care providers, especially after Highmark sold its share of two managed-care health-maintenance organizations (HMOs) to Independence Blue Cross in 1996.
Ario asked why, if Highmark was not a threat, Independence Blue Cross had pressed for a non-compete agreement with Highmark when it bought those two plans.
Independence Blue Cross Chief Executive Joseph A. Frick said that it was customary in any transaction for an acquiring company to seek a non-compete agreement to protect its purchase.
Independence paid $350 million for the two plans.
Frick said Highmark could compete in the Philadelphia area now to sell non-Blue-branded plans.
But Melani said lessons Highmark has learned in its competition with Capital Blue Cross in Central Pennsylvania and the Lehigh Valley would discourage the Pittsburgh insurer from entering the Philadelphia area.
He said health-care premiums had gone up as a result of the competition.
But an economist hired by the two Blues, Barry Harris, a senior principal in Economists Inc., said there was actually no lasting impact on the rates.
Ario stressed that how the proposed merger would affect the competitive climate of the state would be the most important consideration in the department's decision on whether to approve the deal.
The hearings, which opened at 9 a.m., attracted more than 100 participants and audience members.
A second hearing will be held Thursday in Harrisburg, with two days of hearings set for July 15 and 16 in Philadelphia.
In all, more than 90 people had signed up to testify as of July 3, with 44 expected to testify in Philadelphia.
Among those expected to speak today against the merger is Diane Holder, president of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Health Insurance Division, a Highmark competitor in the Pittsburgh area.
Others on today's list include representatives from various Pittsburgh-area consumer organizations.
The Philadelphia list includes Temple University Hospital president and chief executive Joseph W. "Chip" Marshall 3d; Jennifer Orta, of the Council of Spanish Speaking Organizations of Philadelphia; Lance Haver, director from Philadelphia's Office of Consumer Affairs; and Thomas Gamba, president of the Pennsylvania Dental Association.
The hearings, which are open to the public, start at 9 a.m., run until 5 p.m., recess until 7 p.m. and continue until 10 p.m. The last day's session is scheduled to end at noon.
Audience members may not question speakers, the department said.
The Philadelphia hearings next week will be held at the Sheraton Center City, 201 N. 17th St.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sa
Oct 11
|
Su
Oct 12 |
Mo
Oct 13 |
Tu
Oct 14 |
We
Oct 15 |
SPORTS
OBITUARIES
Green
today's poll
express headlines
Promotions
photo GALLERY
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
email this
print this
reprint or license this
