Connecticut's insurance commissioner may face a maximum $1,000 civil fine for breaching public records laws, should the state Freedom of Information Commission move forward with accusations the commissioner withheld Aetna-Humana merger records from consumer and health groups, Hartford Courant reports.
Three advocacy groups issued the accusation against the Connecticut Insurance Department and Commissioner Katharine Wade. The department was required to analyze how a possible merger between Hartford, Conn.-based Aetna and Louisville, Ky.-based Humana would have affected state consumers. However, a U.S. district court judge blocked the proposed merger in January.
Commission staff attorney and hearing officer Lisa Fein Siegel wrote in the proposed decision, "It is found that the [public records] exemptions claimed by Commissioner Wade were almost entirely without merit, and it also found that the Commissioner's refusal to submit records for in-camera inspection and to provide an index of exempt records demonstrates an unreasonable attempt to avoid a long established process of determining whether a public record is subject to disclosure."
The Freedom of Information Commission will decide June 28 if the recommended fine against Ms. Wade will stand.