Legislative grilling in California begins today for Anthem Blue Cross, the insurer whose efforts to increase some average premiums by almost 40% did not go unnoticed by the White House. Wellpoint, the payer’s parent company, will begin its time being questioned before a special state House committee tomorrow. Although the most likely effect of such questioning will be the negative national PR that has accompanied it, the excessive scrutiny of the company’s books will almost certainly provide the impetus for local reform in this area at the hands of state legislatures as it applies to other insurers — eventually leveling the playing field in the Insurance marketplace.

In other Anthem Blue Cross news, a California man’s breach-of-contract trial with the insurer has just begun.

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