Anthem Withdraws Rate Hike

Sacramento, CA – Anthem Blue Cross says it no longer plans to increase health insurance rates for some California customers by as much as 39 percent.

The company notified numerous policy holders in January that the rate increases would take effect on March 1st, but later delayed implementation due to concerns raised by the public and ranking politicians.

Anthem Blue Cross plans to revise its rate requests filed to the California Department of Insurance as soon as possible.

The corporate office has released a statement reading, "By refilling our individual rate requests, we will also utilize updated and real-time medical utilization information, as well as address inadvertent miscalculations related to the way in which we estimated our future medical costs in our initial filings."

Policyholders will be notified at least 30 days before changes go into effect.

Written by bjhansen@mlode.com.