Blue Cross Chief Executive of CA Admits He's A Rent-Seeker Attempting to Restrain Trade. California’s biggest Obamacare insurer not ‘running for the hills’ .

The San Jose Mercury News reports:

The chief executive of Blue Shield of California, the largest insurer on the state-run marketplace, says he’s committed to selling coverage even as Republicans pursue a repeal of the federal health law.

In an interview this week with California Healthline, Paul Markovich also criticized President-elect Donald Trump’s support for the sale of insurance plans across state lines in order to boost competition and consumer choice.

“It will push health plans to find the regulatory body or state with the fewest number of regulations,” Markovich said. “It’s a race to the lowest common denominator and least rich benefits. That is what we want to avoid, and I don’t think it will do much to increase competition. I find it perplexing.”

Blue Shield covers nearly 30 percent of enrollees in the Covered California exchange market. Industry giants Anthem and Kaiser Permanente are close behind.

Nationally, as a Republican Congress looks to dismantle key parts of the Affordable Care Act, some policymakers and consumer advocates are concerned that an increasing number of insurers will leave the government-run exchanges.

Markovich said he expects the San Francisco-based insurer to lose money on its exchange business this year after posting profits in 2014 and 2015. But he said the insurer isn’t looking to pull out.

Hope springs eternal for some statists! When you hear "it's a race to the lowest common denominator" that means a rent-seeker who's trying to restrain competition because the impartial rules of laissez-faire make it difficult for the inefficient to survive. The moral sewer of someone that wants to force you to have coverage for childhood dental when you don't have a child.