Anthem/WellPoint Postscript

http://www.futureofcapitalism.com/2010/07/anthem-wellpoint-postscript

The Los Angeles Times has a pretty good profile of the actuary who got WellPoint/Anthem to roll back its rate increase in California. He had worked for Ernst & Young, "where he supervised 45 actuaries and enjoyed a corner office with a sweeping view of San Diego Bay. Ernst & Young downsized seven years ago, leaving Axene, then 53, out of work.":

He decided to start his own business...a small office behind his master bedroom serves as the corporate headquarters of Axene Health Partners. He shares the bare-bones space — dubbed 'the Outhouse' — with Tiffany, his office manager and daughter-in-law, and his son Josh, an actuary, while six other employees work from their homes in California and Oregon. Axene likes it that way, surrounded by family in a tranquil place where he can wear shorts and deck shoes to work...

Axene relied not only on his math skills but also on a higher power: He prayed for insight and wisdom each morning before launching into another round of numbers sleuthing, often drawing inspiration from a worn Bible he keeps in his office.

"I'm one of those crazy people who believes that God listens to our prayers," he said.

At least by this account, the increase wasn't rolled back because of political pressure from the Obama administration, but because of an actual calculation error -- double-counting the effects of aging -- discovered by this praying, work-from-home actuary. Link via HISTalk, a health care IT blog I discovered today via a new comment on the post here from back in November about Epic Systems.

by Editor  |  Jul 19, 2010 at 4:49 pm Related Topics:  Health Care, President Obama, Press, Religion receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free futureofcapitalism.com mailing list