"In the letter,
Brian Sassi,
the head of WellPoint's consumer business unit, blamed the weak economy
for leading individual insurance buyers who don't have access to group plans to drop coverage or buy cheaper plans. That reduces the premium revenue available to cover claims from sicker customers who are keeping their coverage.
The result was a 2009 loss for the Anthem Blue Cross unit that sells individual policies in California to people who don't get insurance through employers, he said.
Sebelius said "it remains difficult to understand" how premium increases of up to 39 percent can be justified when WellPoint reported a $2.7 billion profit in the last quarter of 2009.
In Indiana,
customers also are searching for an explanation, and at least one is asking the
Indiana Department of Insurance to look into the matter."