Michigan Blue Asks For Individual Market Changes

Another provision would require other health plans in the state to help cover high-risk individuals by funding a risk pool program or paying an assessment that would subsidize Michigan Blue’s individual health insurance operations.

A conference committee has been ironing out separate versions of the bills passed by the Michigan House and the Michigan Senate.

If lawmakers reject the compromise version of the bills and the current rules prevail, “uncontrollable financial losses on individual policies will escalate and lead to [Michigan Blue's] entire business becoming financially unstable in the near future,” the company says in a statement.

Opponents of the bills say they are trying to keep Michigan Blue from jamming conference versions of the bills through the state Legislature during a lame-duck session.

One group that opposes the bills, the Michigan Disability Rights Coalition, East Lansing, notes that Michigan Blue’s surplus has increased to $2.9 billion, from $1.3 billion, over the past decade, and that the company estimates it earned a total profit of $212 million during the first 3 quarters of 2008.

The coalition says any losses at Michigan Blue are due to Michigan Blue management decisions, not to any state policy.