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.
A contentious all-day hearing Wednesday left many Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Mexico customers saying they see little hope for relief from a controversial 21.3 percent increase in their health insurance premiums. Even though the company’s cash reserves have now reached $7.2 billion, an expert witness for the Attorney General’s office’s, who reiterated earlier testimony that Blue Cross had not sufficiently documented its claimed cost figures, and whose analysis found the insurer’s rate filing had exaggerated company losses, said the 21 percent increase was “reasonable, given the circumstances.”
The state’s new Superintendent of Insurance, John Franchini, began work Monday — just two days ahead of a public hearing scheduled for Wednesday on the controversial Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Mexico health…
In light of public outrage over a controversial 21 percent increase in Blue Cross Blue Shield’s health insurance premiums — and revelations the increase may have been based partly on exaggerated losses — the New Mexico Division of Insurance is moving to require insurers to submit more information, including rate histories, when filing new rates.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield health insurance plans across the U.S. have raised policyholders’ rates while accumulating billions of dollars in surpluses – much more than necessary to protect the companies, according to a Consumers Union study released Thursday.
A planned public hearing on Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Mexico‘s controversial health insurance rate hike may be delayed until September.
The company filed a motion July 2 with the state Insurance Division, saying the public hearing and division review of the rate hike should be delayed until the Supreme Court has ruled on the matter, because preparing for the public hearing would be time consuming and the court may toss the PRC’s decision to reverse approval of the hike. More …
Blue Cross Blue Shield has asked the state Supreme Court to block the PRC’s decision to suspend a controversial 21 percent health insurance rate hike. The company says it complied with all regulations in pursuing the rate hike and negotiated with the Attorney General’s office and Insurance Division in good faith to arrive at the settlement. That settlement came after the state’s expert concluded the rate hike was unjustified and the company had “inflated” its losses.
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 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.
The state Insurance Division will this week vacate its controversial April approval of a Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Mexico health insurance rate hike settlement, Public Regulation Commission (PRC) chairman David King told The Independent Monday morning.
The move expected this week does not represent a formal rejection of the request or a final decision; it will simply restart the process.
Commissioner Jason Marks had condemned the settlement as “a back room deal.” Angry commissioners voted May 13 to order the Division to reverse its approval of the settlement, which was negotiated over a weekend without public hearings.
But former acting superintendent Tom Rushton, who had helped negotiate the 21.3 percent rate hike, resigned the following day without issuing an order to vacate the agreement.
Rushton was replaced May 20 by Craig Dunbar, who could not vacate the agreement because a technicality prevented him from staying in the job; State law requires the insurance superintendent to have lived in New Mexico for three years, but Dunbar returned to New Mexico from Texas only last year.
Blue Cross Blue Shield attorneys had threatened to sue the PRC if the Division withdrew its approval for the rate hike. But concerned that Dunbar’s appointment might be challenged in court if he vacated the rate hike, because of the residency issue, commissioners decided to replace him, they told The Independent.
Dunbar was replaced last week by Johnny Montoya
Incoming interim superintendent Johnny Montoya will vacate the Division’s approval this week, Dunbar and King said.
If that happens, the division will also clear a separate request to reverse the approval submitted by the original complainant in the case, Blue Cross Blue Shield NM policyholder and Albuquerque Attorney Jody Neal-Post. Jones defected from the settlement agreement May 27.
Describing Blue Cross Blue Shield as “a corporation with apparently endless litigation resources,” Neal-Post noted in a filing submitted to the Division Monday that the company had hired yet another attorney to fight her request that the settlement approval be vacated.
The PRC’s selection committee will begin reviewing candidates Tuesday for the permanent superintendent, King said. A “permanent” superintendent should be appointed by late summer, King said.
King questioned the constitutionality of residency requirements, noting that “many” candidates for the permanent superintendent position could not apply because they had not lived in New Mexico during the past three years.
In the latest round of what one commissioner described as “musical chairs” at the state Insurance Division, acting superintendent Craig Dunbar was replaced Thursday.
The Public Regulation Commission (PRC) unanimously appointed Johnny Montoya as the new acting…
Interim state Insurance Superintendent Craig Dunbar will be asked to step down Thursday, following inquiries by The Independent regarding Dunbar’s residential history, PRC Chairman David King confirmed Wednesday.
State law requires insurance superintendents to have been New Mexico…
Rocked by recent scandals, resignations and controversies, the state Public Regulation Commission (PRC) began staff ethics training Tuesday.
Former chief of staff Dan Mayfield‘s prohibition on PRC employees speaking to journalists was still in effect, staffers…
Michael A. Rivera of Corrales has been appointed as the state Public Regulation Commission (PRC)’s new Chief of Staff. Rivera will oversee a PRC staff of more than 270 employees. His position pays $130,000 a year.
Rivera arrives at the…
Criminal charges against one Public Regulation Commission (PRC) commissioner, the conviction earlier this month of another on two felony charges, a costly sexual harassment lawsuit, the hiring of a convicted embezzler, and repeated violations of the Open Meetings Act…
New Mexico’s Open Meetings Act is meant to help ensure public involvement and to prevent backroom deals in state and local government, but violations of the law are widespread, an investigation by The Independent has found. School boards, universities, town councils, county and state commissions, and boards across the state have broken the law, casting a shroud of secrecy over government officials’ deliberations and bargaining.
