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.
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.
Attorneys for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Mexico have threatened to sue the Public Regulation Commission (PRC) if the Insurance Division vacates its controversial approval last month of a 21.3 percent health insurance rate increase. More …
Former Insurance Superintendent Don Letherer presented his case to replace Thomas R. Rushton as interim state Insurance Superintendent, at a Public Regulation Commission (PRC) meeting Tuesday morning in Santa Fe.
Letherer’s contentious relationship with previous PRC commissioners, including his 2001 firing as Insurance Superintendent and 2002 civil rights lawsuit against the PRC, were not discussed, spokesman Gerald Garner said.
Interim state Insurance Superintendent Thomas Rushton will retire effective June 22, Public Regulation Commission (PRC) Chairman David King confirmed Monday evening.
Rushton was appointed Interim Insurance Superintendent May 4, immediately upon the resignation of former superintendent Morris…
New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (PRC) commissioners Thursday morning unanimously directed Interim Insurance Superintendent Thomas Rushton to rescind the Insurance Division’s controversial approval of a 21.3 percent hike in the health insurance rates for individual policyholders of Blue Cross Blue Shield N.M.
Rushton announced that he had recused himself from further involvement in the case.
That, at least, came as welcome news to the Attorney General’s office, according to Spokesman Phillip Sisneros.
“We do support Mr. Rushton’s recusal from a hearing on the matter,” Sisneros said. “(But) our position is still in support of the settlement. Remember, our agency is not the policy making authority on this issue and in fact, we were asked to step in to help find a resolution. We are happy to continue in that advisory role in the future.”
Rushton appeared reluctant to rescind the Insurance Division’s April approval of the rate hike, telling commissioners that rate change review procedures had been followed.
“There was a hearing conducted,” Rushton said. “There was prefiled testimony. There was discovery. There was a settlement reached, and Morris Chavez accepted that stipulated settlement.”
PRC Chairman David King interrupted Rushton to say that there were outside interests that had not been heard in the rate hike settlement process.
“We’ve had death threats to the Commission, to staff, and the former superintendent (Chavez),” King said. “They certainly followed the law, but it wasn’t done as well as in California,” where a Blue Cross rate hike was recently overturned.
Rushton assigned Deputy Insurance Superintendent Darlene Gomez to be the hearing officer for the reconsideration of the settlement approval. Gomez will receive whatever staffing assistance she needs from the Commission, King pledged.
But the Insurance Division will work under close Commission scrutiny, King said. King said the Commission will also ask for a third-party independent audit of Blue Cross Blue Shield NM’s financial records.
Commissioners King, Jason Marks, and Jerome Block, Jr. have all said they want the PRC to investigate why Blue Cross Blue Shield has a virtual monopoly in much of rural New Mexico.
Marks and Block appeared to try to manage policyholders’ expectations, Thursday.
“I don’t want false hope here,” Marks said. “It’s only right to do what we can. But we don’t want false hope. There’s still a stipulated settlement.”
Block said Blue Cross Blue Shield was starting “from scratch,” as far as he was concerned.
But he cautioned that the company would not take the Commission’s decision lightly, and warned policyholders that the extra scrutiny could backfire on consumers.
“They’re going to come out swinging,” Block said. “There could be (financial) data that justifies a higher increase. I hope the public is ready to face that outcome if it’s substantially different.”
Switching interim superintendents?
Marks also floated the possibility of replacing Rushton as interim superintendent with former insurance superintendent Don Letherer, noting that Rushton is very busy.
“Don could keep the wheels on,” Marks said. “We’d have twice the assurance the job’s getting done.”
Commissioners agreed to add a meeting with Letherer to next week’s Commission agenda.
Interim state Insurance Superintendent Tom Rushton may rescind his predecessor’s April 26 approval of a Blue Cross Blue Shield New Mexico health insurance rate hike — the result of a weekend settlement Rushton helped negotiate to the outrage of policyholders and Public Regulation Commission (PRC) commissioners. Commissioners want Rushton to stand aside while the rate increase is re-examined, and Commission chairman David King is calling for a third-party audit of the insurer’s books.
State Insurance Superintendent Morris J. “Mo” Chavez resigned Tuesday morning.
“After careful deliberation with my family, I have decided to tender my resignation as Superintendent of Insurance effective close of business today, May 4, 2010,” Chavez said in a two-sentence resignation letter addressed to PRC Commission Chairman David King. “It has been an honor to serve the citizens of New Mexico.”
Chavez had come under fire for approving, without public hearings, a Blue Cross Blue Shield NM individual health insurance rate hike of 24.6 percent. The increase was subsequently reduced to 21.3 percent.
Since Chavez took office in October 2006, he approved several health insurance rate increases, all without public hearings.
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