Calif. Anthem Blue Cross president resigns after rate hike fight that drew rebuke from Obama

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Anthem Blue Cross prez quits after rate hike fight

LOS ANGELES — The president of Anthem Blue Cross in California announced her resignation Tuesday after the insurer’s attempted rate increase became President Barack Obama’s poster child for out-of-control health care costs.

Leslie Margolin said Tuesday she is leaving the state’s largest for-profit insurer to lead Transforming Health Care, a coalition of providers, hospitals and consumer advocates.

In a statement, Margolin said the company made headlines earlier this year for its rate hikes, but in the 2½ years she led Anthem she was responsible for “dramatically improving Anthem’s group customer satisfaction and overall position in the market,” among other successes.

Kristin Binns, a spokeswoman for Anthem Blue Cross’ parent company, Wellpoint Inc., added that Margolin’s resignation “is not in any way related to the individual rate filing in California.”

In February, public outrage was swift and broad after Anthem proposed a rate hike that averaged 25 percent for individually insured policies, with some policyholders facing premium increases of as much as 39 percent.

Obama cited the rate hike as proof of a failing health care system in his push to pass his reform package earlier this year. Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, pressed Anthem to explain how it could plan rate hikes when its parent company has seen its profits soar.

Indianapolis-based Wellpoint earned $2.74 billion in the last three months of 2009.

Anthem withdrew its rate increases in April after California regulators revealed accounting errors in the insurer’s proposal that would have resulted in higher profits.

The insurer now says it plans to raise premiums an average of 14 percent, capping hikes at 20 percent.

In a statement, Wellpoint thanked Margolin for her leadership, calling her “a champion of innovative initiatives that improve patient safety and quality outcomes.”

Contact information for Margolin’s new employer, Transforming Health Care, could not be found. A consulting group by the same name denied any affiliation with Margolin.