To: Kamala Harris, Attorney General
Stop Insurance Companies From Wasting Patient Care Dollars on Luxury Suites and Corporate Bonuses
Blue Shield just bought a $2.5 million luxury skybox at the 49ers' brand spanking new Levi’s stadium with Californians' healthcare premiums and tax dollars!
Healthcare insurers, like Blue Shield, are abusing their "non-profit” tax status by spending billions of taxpayer dollars -- in corporate tax breaks and rising premiums -- on lavish entertainment for corporate VIPs and hefty bonuses for company executives, not patient care.
California Attorney General Kamala Harris must put a stop to this blatant waste of taxpayer dollars by investigating non-profits like Blue Shield and imposing a “charitable trust” that puts a hold on their assets -- to prevent any further abuses of their tax-status.
Why is this important?
Blue Shield's purchase of a multi-million dollar executive skybox in an NFL stadium is only the recent example of healthcare insurers cheating California patients and taxpayers out of millions of taxpayer dollars.
As a result of its non-profit status, Blue Shield is avoiding California's corporate income tax. This generous tax-break, on top of millions of dollars from rising premium rates, contributes to massive surpluses for non-profit insurers. Blue Shield, for example, built a reserve that is $3.68 billion – or 1667% – more than what’s required by state law.
On top of that, we’ve seen the healthcare industry spiral out of control for years, with immense increases in premium rates, and with no one in California with power to stop them.
That is why voters put Proposition 45 on the November ballot -- to help curb out of control premium increases by requiring healthcare companies to get approval for rate hikes. And if passed, Prop 45 will give the California insurance regulators the power to block excessive rate increases, like the ones that helped funded Blue Shield’s 49er skybox. But before November, only the Attorney General has the authority to hold insurers accountable and protect patient care. That is why it is on us to urge Attorney General Harris to take action immediately.