Regular readers will remember that I heart Kathleen Sebelius, former governor of Kansas and current Health and Human Services Secretary.
But since joining the No-Drama Obama administration she's been pretty quiet. Despite the focus on health care reform, her name rarely comes up.
Today, however, I read this letter she sent to the president of Anthem Blue Cross, an insurance company that recently raised its premiums for California policy holders by 39%. Pretty strong stuff for our No Drama HHS Secretary.
Excerpt:
"Your company's strong financial position makes these rate increases even more difficult to understand. As you know, your parent company, WellPoint Incorporated, has seen its profits soar, earning $2.7 billion in the last quarter of 2009 alone."
As you know. And, as Ms. Margolin also knows, the CEO of Wellpoint (as Anthem is known elsewhere), brought home just under $10 million in 2009.
If you want to get deeper into the weeds about why Anthem raised its rates, and why the current health care reform plans will end the need for insurance companies to raise rates so precipitously, check out health care policy expert Jon Cohn's explanation.
Go ahead, click on it. Because you'll want to start dropping phrases like "insurance death spiral" into the next conversation you have on health care reform.
(How's that for no drama?)
I also look forward to your prompt reply, below.
