Document 48 : Docket No. 99-14 : Hearing Decision : Bureau of Insurance

STATE OF MAINE
DEPARTMENT OF PROFESSIONAL AND FINANCIAL REGULATION
BUREAU OF INSURANCE

IN RE:	)
	)
APPLICATION OF ASSOCIATED	)
HOSPITAL SERVICE OF MAINE, d/b/a	)
BLUE CROSS AND BLUE SHIELD OF	)
MAINE, TO CONVERT TO A STOCK	)
INSURER AND VOLUNTARILY	)
LIQUIDATE AND Dissolve	)
	)	CENTRAL MAINE HEALTHCARE
and	)	CORPORATION'S REPLY TO
	)	APPLICANTS' RESPONSE TO
APPLICATION OF ANTHEM HEALTH	)	PENDING MOTIONS TO INTERVENE
PLAN OF MAINE, INC. TO ACQUIRE	)
THE ASSETS OF ASSOCIATED	)
HOSPITAL SERVICE OF MAINE, d/b/a	)
BLUE CROSS AND BLUE SHIELD OF	)
MAINE, AND RELATED	)
TRANSACTIONS	)
	)
Consolidated Docket No. INS 99-14	)

On November 5, 1999, Central Maine Healthcare Corporation ("CMHC") received a copy of the Applicants' Response to Pending Motions to Intervene (the "Applicants' Response") in which Anthem Insurance Companies, Inc. ("Anthem") and Associated Hospitals Service of Maine, d/b/a Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maine ("BCBSME") (together, the "Applicants") suggested that the seven entities that had applied to intervene in the above referenced proceeding (without specifically excluding CMHC) should be granted only permissive intervention and should be subject to certain procedural limitations. This Reply is submitted by CMHC to clarify certain matters raised in the Applicants' Response. As discussed below, CMHC believes that it is entitled to intervene in the above referenced action as of right, without limitation on its participation.

Unique Status of Central Maine Healthcare Corporation

CMHC believes that as a fifty percent (50%) owner of Central Maine Partners Health Plan, Inc. ("CMPHP"), a health maintenance organization jointly owned by CMHC and BCBSME, CMHC has a status that is unique and different from the status of the other six intervenors listed in the Applicants' Response. In so far as CMHC and BCBSME jointly own CMPHP and the above referenced action is a proceeding to review a proposed change of ownership of CMPHP under 24-A M.R.S.A. 222 (the "Holding Company Act"), CMHC clearly has a "direct and substantial" interest in the above referenced action and should be granted intervention as of right. CMHC asserts that because it is a fifty percent (50%) owner of CMPHP, it is clearly within the class of persons whose interests the Holding Company Act seeks to protect and the objectives of the Holding Company Act cannot be realized without CMHC's full participation in this proceeding. Notably, in discussing the respective intervenors' qualifications for intervention in footnote 5 of the Applicants' Response, the Applicants do not argue that CMHC (unlike the other intervenors) cannot satisfy the test for intervention as of right. CMHC assumes therefore that the Applicants accept that CMHC falls into a different category than the other intervenors and has a direct and substantial interest in the above referenced action, requiring a finding by the Superintendent that CMHC should be granted intervention as of right and without limitation.

Conclusion

For the reasons given above, CMHC again requests that the Superintendent grant CMHC's motion to intervene as of right and without limitation.

DATED: November 9, 1999

____________________________________

Michele M. Garvin, Esq.

John C. Kane, Jr., Esq.

Attorney for Central Maine Healthcare Corporation

ROPES & GRAY

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