Insurance Discussion

WASHINGTON – Congress made insurance giant WellPoint a poster child for the evils of the health care system on Wednesday, hammering the firm for its heart-stopping rate hikes.

One day before President Obama’s reform summit, Capitol Hill Democrats hammered WellPoint for a recent 39% rate spike by its California outlet, Anthem Blue Cross.

WellPoint is also planning major boosts in numerous other states, leaked internal documents show. New York policyholders face jumps of up to 17%, the papers say.

The documents revealed the firm was paying dozens of executives more than $1 million a year and spending tens of millions more on ritzy junkets.

“Corporate executives in WellPoint are thriving, but its customers are paying the price,” said California Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, where WellPoint honchos testified.

WellPoint CEO Angela Braly, who took home $9 million in 2008, insisted her firm was only increasing rates because medical costs are skyrocketing, and young, healthy people are dropping coverage, leaving sicker, more costly customers to insure.

Democrats countered that WellPoint is fattening up on profits by dumping sick people from its rolls.

Party leaders used the hikes as ammunition to push President Obama’s revived $950 billion reform push. And some Democrats argued the President should go further and support a public insurance plan to keep private companies honest.

“This is exactly why we need to take action immediately to pass a health care plan with a public option that will lower costs for everyone,” said New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.

House leaders also managed to take perhaps the first bipartisan step in the debate, passing a bill 406 to 19 to strip the health insurance industry of its exemption from anti-trust laws.

“Americans have been taken for a ride by health insurance companies that don’t play by the rules of fairness,” said Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan), a sponsor. “Enough is enough.”

Both moves brought renewed attention to reform but are regarded as largely symbolic, since states regulate insurance.

Health care will come under a bigger spotlight today with Obama’s health care summit.

Republicans insisted it is a phony showcase – but they’ll try to get their message across that Obama needs to start from scratch. “We shouldn’t let the White House have a six-hour taxpayer-funded infomercial,” House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) told his members, according to Reuters.

A showcase is what Democrats want.

“Health reform has become a sideshow devoid of reality,” said Bronx Rep. Eliot Engel. “This flushes out the Republicans who have got to do more than say no.”

mmcauliff@nydailynews.com