Anthem Blue Cross withdraws from Covered California small biz marketplace

Anthem Blue Cross has withdrawn its application to participate in the small business marketplace at Covered California.

Anthem Blue Cross has withdrawn its application to participate in the small business marketplace at Covered California, health plan officials announced Friday.

The state health benefit exchange used to require that a health plan interested in the program for individuals also had to apply to participate in the small business marketplace. That rule was eliminated in June, Anthem spokesman Darrel Ng said.

That change, and because Anthem already participates in a privately run small business exchange called California Choice, the health plan decided to withdraw its application from Covered California, he said.

Covered California?s response does not address Anthem specifically.

Rather, it says, ?companies who choose to withdraw from the solicitation process are presumed to have done so based on their own, sound, business practices.?

The statement released Friday notes that in order to retain competitiveness in health plan negotiations, the program does not release names of unsuccessful bidders or the total number of bidders responding to solicitations.

Yet competition is important.

?Covered California welcomes and encourages as many qualified companies to participate as possible,? the statement reads. ?Increased competition enhances Covered California?s ability to deliver its prime objective ? providing millions of Californians the highest quality and most affordable health coverage available.?

State Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, did not mince words, however.

In June, he recommended to Covered California that Anthem be barred from participation in the new small-business marketplace because of its history of ?unreasonable? rate increases.

Kathy Robertson covers health?care, law and lobbying, labor, workplace issues and immigration for the Sacramento Business Journal.

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