I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
Acting state insurance superintendent Johnny Montoya has suspended a controversial April 26 Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Mexico health insurance premium rate increase settlement.
Montoya suspended the Division’s approval of the rate hike and ordered an Aug. 25 public hearing to review evidence in the case. But his order allows Blue Cross Blue Shield NM to continue to charge the higher rates until the August hearing. Insurance Division staff will explain how they arrived at their support for a rate hike, Montoya said. Montoya issued the order to ensure that the rates are justified and to bring transparency to the rate approval process, he said.
“Because this increase coincides with very challenging financial times for nearly every New Mexican, it’s prudent for the Insurance Division and the citizens of this state to know exactly why such rates are warranted,” Montoya said. “My office is tasked with ensuring that the corporate solvency and consumer interests are balanced and I firmly believe that suspending the settlement and going ahead with the evidentiary hearing is in everyone’s best interest.”
The 21.3 percent rate hike deal was struck between the Insurance Division, Blue Cross Blue Shield NM and the state Attorney General’s office during weekend meetings without public hearings and was condemned by Public Regulation Commission (PRC) commissioner Jason Marks as “a back room deal.”
The PRC oversees the Insurance Division but state law affords the Division more autonomy than other PRC divisions.
An estimated 40,000 New Mexicans were affected by the rate hike, with some paying a third of household income to the insurer to maintain their health insurance policies.
The Division has approved Blue Cross Blue Shield NM rate hikes every year since 2004, without requesting documentation supporting the insurer’s claimed expenses and losses, The Independent found.
An independent expert hired by the Attorney General’s office concluded in the insurer had “inflated” its losses , its parent company has more than $6 billion in reserves and the rate increase was not justified.
Montoya is the fourth superintendent since the Division’s April approval of the rate hike and an ensuing power struggle between the PRC and the semi-autonomous Division.
