On the Call: WellPoint Executive VP Brian Sassi

By The Associated Press

posted: 13 DAYS 15 HOURS AGO

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-Health insurer WellPoint Inc. started the final quarter of 2009 with a spike in swine flu-related claims for October. But that tapered over the quarter's final two months, and claims did not rise as high as the insurer expected.

Executive Vice President Brian Sassi, the head of WellPoint's consumer business unit, talked about where the Indianapolis insurer saw an impact from flu-related claims. WellPoint operates Blue Cross Blue Shield plans in 14 states and Unicare plans in several others.

QUESTION: Where did swine flu have the most impact?

ANSWER: I would say all of our states got equally hit, but not all at the same time. So, some states had the impact sooner, such as Georgia. But as it started to spread across the U.S., we were no less tainted in any one state. I wouldn't call it adversely higher in any one state either, though. I would just say they were all pretty bad as related to the H1N1 impact. But I would also say they've all abated almost equally at the same time ... meaning that everybody's now down at a comparable level across our states.

2010-01-27 15:10:46