both aetna inc. and blue shield say they charge higher rates to customers in northern california. they actually acknowledge that. then they do customers in southern california. aetna charges 30% more. blue shield says it charges up to 40% more. that comes directly from them. the issue becomes especially urgent, as the city has before it a proposal by one of the hospitals, by california pacific medical center, to build a 555- bed hospital in the cathedral hill. let me be clear -- the focus of this hearing is not that project. that project is going through the approval process and will duly come before the planning commission and the board of supervisors, and we, as members of the board, cannot prejudge that project, but we do need to understand what is happening in the context of this issue. cpmc is an affiliate of sutter health company, a hospital system that has 25 hospitals in the region, for which premium levels are assessed for san francisco. a number of news articles, many news articles, have cited their pricing power in the region as a major driver of costs, which, of course,