California’s Anthem Blue Cross Names New President
Anthem Blue Cross of California has named former Aetna executive Pam Kehaly to head the insurer after its president resigned a week ago, Los Angeles Times reports. "Kehaly will take the helm Aug. 30. Anthem, a unit of Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc., is California's largest for-profit health insurance company." Anthem came under intense scrutiny earlier this year over a planned rate hike of up to 39 percent for many of its individual insurance plan holders. "The rates became a national symbol of anti-insurance company outrage and Anthem canceled the hikes in April after miscalculations were uncovered in its filing" (Olivarez-Giles, 7/27).
The Sacramento Bee: Kehaly spent 20 years with WellPoint before leaving for Aetna. "'It's not a surprise hire,' said Kristin Binns, a WellPoint spokeswoman. Kehaly replaces Leslie Margolin, who left last week to lead a group that she said would focus on overhauling the state's health care system" (Glover and Caina Calvan, 7/27).
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