November 2, 1999

 

 

 

 

Alessandro A. Iuppa

Superintendent of Insurance

Maine Bureau of Insurance

34 State House Station

Augusta, ME 04333-0034

RE: Application of Associated Hospital Service of Maine, d/b/a Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maine, to Convert to a Stock Insurer and Voluntarily Liquidate and Dissolve and Application of Anthem Health Plan of Maine, Inc., to Acquire the Assets of Associated Hospital Service of Maine, d/b/a Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maine, and Related Transactions, Consolidated Docket No. INS-99-14

 

Dear Superintendent Iuppa:

Please accept this letter as the Attorney General’s response to the Applicant’s Motion for a Procedural Order dated October 27, 1999.

1. Parties, intervention and cooperation. The Attorney General objects to the proposed requirement that intervenors or groups of intervenors be required to coordinate their informational requests during the discovery period and to coordinate their presentations of evidence and testimony at the hearing. The Attorney General has been granted party status as an intervenor in this case and will be addressing such issues as it deems necessary to protect the interests of the public in charitable trusts. In this regard, the interests of the Attorney General may well differ from the interests of other intervenors, particularly consumer groups which have sought, or may seek, to intervene in this case. Therefore, the Attorney General believes it is inappropriate that it be required to coordinate its informational requests and its presentations of evidence and testimony in this matter.

2. Scope of proceedings and specification of issues. The Attorney General understands that the Superintendent may be including in a procedural order the date by which parties shall propose issues to be resolved in this matter. Nevertheless, in light of the statement of issues which has been presented by the Applicants, the Attorney General takes this opportunity to indicate that an issue not included by the Applicants is the adequacy of the independent appraisal of the fair market value of the aggregate equity of the converted stock insurer to be outstanding upon completion of the conversion plan. 24 M.R.S.A. § 2301(9-D)(I).

3. Anticipated schedule of proceedings. The Superintendent’s request that Applicants and the Attorney General address the issue of the manner, content and time of notice to policyholders of Associated Hospital Service of Maine d/b/a Blue Cross Blue Shield of Maine ("BCBSME") raises the question of whether the Superintendent’s proposed schedule allows sufficient time for a thorough examination of the transactions included in the Application. The Attorney General is particularly concerned with (1) the short time between the intervention deadline of December 1, 1999 and the close of discovery on January 7, 2000; and (2) the short time between the date for discovery responses and the preparation of expert reports. The discovery deadline, falling just over 30 days after the deadline for intervention, may place an undue burden on potential intervenors, even assuming any applications to intervene are promptly granted. In addition, it is noted that the discovery schedule does not allow time for supplemental requests after discovery responses are filed on January 21, 2000. The Attorney General further suggests that the time between filing of discovery responses and the filing of expert reports is too compressed to permit adequate evaluation of material for inclusion in the reports.

The Attorney General is aware of the risks associated with any delay in proceedings but remains concerned that the schedule proposed by the Superintendent may not allow sufficient time for the parties to prepare and submit evidence and argument in this proceeding which involves issues of substantial public interest.

Thank you for your consideration of these matters.

Sincerely,

 

 

WILLIAM H. LAUBENSTEIN, III

Assistant Attorney General

WHL:sw

cc: James B. Zimpritch, Esq.

Robert S. Frank, Esq.

Judith Shaw Chamberlain, AAG

Joseph P. Ditre, Esq.

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I, William H. Laubenstein, III, Assistant Attorney General, hereby certify that I have this day caused a copy of the Attorney General’s Response to Applicant’s Motion for Procedural Order dated October 27, 1999 to be served upon persons listed below, by having the referenced document deposited in the United States mail, postage prepaid.

James B. Zimpritch, Esq.

Pierce Atwood

One Monument Square

Portland, ME 04101-1110

Robert S. Frank, Esq.

Harvey & Frank

P.O. Box 126

Portland, ME 04112-0126

Judith Shaw Chamberlain, AAG

Department of Attorney General

6 State House Station

Augusta, ME 04333-0006

Joseph P. Ditre, Esq.

Consumer Health Law Program

One Weston Court

Level 1

P.O. Box 2490

Augusta, ME 04338-2490

Dated at Augusta, Maine this 2^nd day of November, 1999.

_____________________________

WILLIAM H. LAUBENSTEIN, III

 

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