Partners HealthCare, Massachusetts insurer under scrutiny

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has launched an investigation into whether the state's largest health insurance company and its largest healthcare provider may have illegally colluded to increase the price of health insurance statewide over the last nine years. Caokley sent formal demands for information to Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts and Partners HealthCare, calling for a detailed account of their contract negotiations in recent years. Since 2000, Blue Cross has boosted the rate it pays for medical care by Partners doctors and hospitals by 75%, dramatically more than the increases given to most other Massachusetts hospitals. Blue Cross now pays $2 billion a year to Partners.