Thursday, June 26, 2008

DC Sues Insurance Company

Legitimate lawsuit or extortion attempt?

By Marc Kilmer

As I wrote about here, the District of Columbia's "universal health care" plan is on the rocks due to CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, the largest health insurance provider in the area, balking at providing funding for it. Now it appears that DC is using its power to punish this company for refusing to go along with its wishes:

The District government hit the region's largest health insurance provider on two fronts yesterday, launching a subpoena-powered investigation and a lawsuit that asserts the nonprofit organization is obligated to donate millions to the community.

I wonder if this two-prong attack would have happened if CareFirst had ponied up the $5 million desired by the DC government to fund its health care program. While there may be merits to this case (it's unclear given the media reports), it certainly seems like an attack motivated by government officials' anger over the insurance company's refusal to bow to their wishes.