IBC to seek Pa. permission to reorganize

 Independence Blue Cross plans to ask the Pennsylvania Insurance Department on Thursday for permission to reorganize its complicated corporate structure to allow the Philadelphia health insurer to adapt more quickly to changes in the market.

"We're redesigning a 75-year-old structure that reflects our past, not our present or our future," said Daniel J. Hilferty, IBC's president and chief executive. "This redesign will give us a structure similar to our competitors and peers."

Remaining at the top of IBC's corporate structure would be a nonprofit holding company named Independence, if the plan were approved. Below that would be a for-profit holding company expected to be called AmeriHealth, the brand IBC uses for businesses outside the Philadelphia area.

At the next level, key changes would be made. About 30 subsidiaries created over decades would be assigned to four new holding companies: Health businesses in Pennsylvania, health businesses in New Jersey, worker's compensation operations, and Medicaid services.