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.
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