Insurance Department to Investigate the Blues in Pennsylvania
In what many Pennsylvania physicians feel is a long overdue move, the Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner has announced that the Department of Insurance will investigate whether any of Pennsylvania's Blue Cross-Blue Shield insurers have engaged in anti-competitive behavior in violation of the Unfair Trade Practices act. According to a recent article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, among other activities, the Department will look at licensing and other agreements among the Blues that may impede competition, provider contracting activity, and data sharing and other market practices to determine whether any of these activities were anti-competitive or unfair in violation of the law.
