R.I. AG Sues Health Insurance Commissioner Over 10% Blue Cross Rate Hike

Rhode Island’s attorney general has sued the state’s health insurance commissioner for allowing Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island to hike premiums for some residents 10 percent.

Attorney General Peter Kilmartin says even though Insurance Commissioner Kathleen Hittner pared the health insurer’s original request for an 18 percent rate hike for individuals and families who buy coverage directly from Blue Cross Blue Shield, it should have been even lower.

Kilmartin says his job is to protect the consumer. He said state law guiding Hittner’s decision making was not followed.

Hittner tells The Providence Journal that allowing the 10 percent rate hike “was a good decision” and she feels “confident we will prevail.”

She says she was protecting the insurer’s solvency.