1776 Highmark Inc.; requesting approval to revise benefits and increase rates for Direct Pay 65 Plus Plan I; amendment to filing no. 1-65P-99HBCBS

Highmark Inc.; Requesting Approval to Revise Benefits and Increase Rates for Direct Pay 65 Plus Plan I; Amendment to Filing No. 1-65P-99-HBCBS

[29 Pa.B. 5476]

   Highmark Inc., d/b/a Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, has filed an amendment to Filing No. 1-65P-99-HBCBS, requesting approval to revise the benefits and increase the premium rates for its Direct Pay 65 Plus Drug Plan. The filing requests an increase in the subscribers' coinsurance percentage from 20% to 35% (which reduces the Company's percentage of reimbursement from 80% to 65%). With the requested revision in benefits, the amendment also reduces the proposed increase in the premium rates from the 53.2% requested in the original filing of July 22, 1999, to 24.8% in this amended filing. This filing will affect approximately 40,200 contractholders and produce additional annual income of $8.5 million. The requested effective date of the change is January 1, 2000.

   Copies of the filing are available for public inspection during normal working hours, by appointment, at the Insurance Department's offices in Harrisburg, Pittsburgh and Erie.

   Interested parties are invited to submit written comments, suggestions or objections to Bharat Patel, Actuary, Insurance Department, Accident and Health Bureau, Office of Rate and Policy Regulation, 1311 Strawberry Square, Harrisburg, PA 17120, within 15 days of publication of this notice in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.

M. DIANE KOKEN,   
Insurance Commissioner

[Pa.B. Doc. No. 99-1776. Filed for public inspection October 15, 1999, 9:00 a.m.]