Seneca Health Insurer ordered to close

On Thanksgiving Eve came official news of the collapse of a health insurance cooperative based in Seneca. Sister station WGOG reports that state regulators ordered the closing of the South Carolina Health Cooperative after an analysis that the co-op could not continue without an infusion of $5 million or more of additional capital. In a letter the director of the state Insurance Department, Raymond Farmer said, “The Department took this action after being notified that two standby letters of credit that serve as security for the SCHC’s reserves were deemed to be fraudulent.” Some 4,600 policyholders suddenly found themselves without insurance, as they sat down at the Thanksgiving dinner table.