Anthem deal hits another roadblock

Georgia's insurance commissioner has rejected an offer by Anthem Inc. to re-approve its application to buy WellPoint Health Networks.



John Oxendine becomes the first state insurance regulatory head to publicly reveal he's asking for sweetened concessions from the Indianapolis health benefits company since it signed a $265 million concessions package with California's insurance commissioner on Monday.



Georgia is among nine other states that are re-appraising their approvals of the Anthem-WellPoint deal in light of the California settlement, which changed the financial conditions of the merger.



"The commissioner met with Anthem Tuesday. An offer was made. The commissioner declined whatever was offered. He felt like Georgia citizens deserve a little better than what was offered," said Glenn Allen, a spokesman for the Georgia Department of Insurance.



Allen said Oxendine won't reveal what was in the Anthem offer.



Anthem spokesman Jim Kappel said the company is "following up with regulators to answer any questions they may have about the merger," but "we are not going to comment on specifics of our communications with any state regulators."



The next steps in Georgia are for department staff to draw up recommendations for Oxendine to use in further negotiations with Anthem, Allen said.



Oxendine, a Republican, is the only elected insurance commissioner among the nine states that are reviewing their earlier approvals of Anthem's $18 billion offer to buy California-based WellPoint.



Patrick Hojlo, a health stock analyst for Credit Suisse First Boston, said in a report to investors that he expects Oxendine "to readily accept a sweetened offer, once he makes enough noise about the matter to reap some political gain."



WellPoint is licensed to sell Blue Cross or Blue Shield policies in four states. California has about half of WellPoint's membership, while Georgia has about 15 percent.