Watchdogs: Following the Money in Health Insurance and International Banking

This week, members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), sent open letters to the heads of America's four largest health insurance companies -- WellPoint, United Health, Humana, and Aetna -- asking how often their clients have been denied insurance coverage based on pre-existing conditions. The committee also wants information on maternity coverage and premium increases; asked the four insurance chief executives to respond by March 12 if they plan to voluntarily provide the information; and requested their testimony at a committee hearing on March 23.

The Obama administration took on WellPoint when its subsidiary Anthem Blue Cross, California's largest insurance provider, announced a 39 percent rate increase and promised to adjust its rates more regularly. WellPoint blamed the recession, despite a 26 percent increase in profits in the fourth quarter of 2009. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius asked the company to "provide a detailed justification for these rate increases to the public."

Meanwhile, experts on money laundering from the Senate Permanent Subcommittee On Investigations, U.S. Treasury, Department of Justice, and companies like Walmart and eBay are scheduled to gather at the International Anti-Money Laundering Conference in Miami on March 15.

Conference speaker Robert Mazur, a former federal agent who worked undercover in the dirty money world and was key to the 1987 sting that brought down the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, told PDI he will talk about "the elephant in the room" -- that most major banks still offer complex money laundering services to international players looking for secrecy.

"The truth about money laundering is ugly," Mazur said. "Speaking strictly of drug proceeds earned annually around the globe, less than a fourth of one percent is seized each year. Until we face the fact that what's being done isn't getting things done, we can't begin to address the problem."