Health Insurers Raise Some Rates by Double Digits (NYT)

[jsr]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/06/business/despite-new-health-law-some-see-sharp-rise-in-premiums.html

January 5, 2013
Health Insurers Raise Some Rates by Double Digits
By REED ABELSON

Health insurance companies across the country are seeking and winning double-digit increases in premiums for some customers, even though one of the biggest objectives of the Obama administration’s health care law was to stem the rapid rise in insurance costs for consumers.

Particularly vulnerable to the high rates are small businesses and people who do not have employer-provided insurance and must buy it on their own.

In California, Aetna is proposing rate increases of as much as 22 percent, Anthem Blue Cross 26 percent and Blue Shield of California 20 percent for some of those policy holders, according to the insurers’ filings with the state for 2013. These rate requests are all the more striking after a 39 percent rise sought by Anthem Blue Cross in 2010 helped give impetus to the law, known as the Affordable Care Act, which was passed the same year and will not be fully in effect until 2014.

In other states, like Florida and Ohio, insurers have been able to raise rates by at least 20 percent for some policy holders. The rate increases can amount to several hundred dollars a month.

[Trajan]

1. Why have they been allowed to do this, continually, for decades ?

They are breaking our backs ...

[Wellstone ruled]

2. This should bring the howls from some of those

free marekteers. Keep it up,this might bring some of those freepers crying for single payer. Nah,not going to happen.
Notice the two states with 20% rules have populations that can least afford increases. Wonder what will happen to the Rethugs after this little stunt. Nothing,just more anti women laws and more lies.

[RudynJack]

9. This is the problem

with "ObamaCare". It was a gift to insurance companies. Single-payer, national health-care was the answer.

[Kennah]

11. Very true, but ACA had the votes to pass whereas single payer did not.

It puts us on the road to single payer, but we'll likely go through Hell and Back along the way, courtesy of the insurance companies.

[eridani]

15. Single payer will have to come at the state level in 2017

One useful thing about setting up exchanges is that this will train a cadre of people who can handle the detail work of setting up single payer.

[Kennah]

18. Absolutely! The states will push it up.

Because this was a GOP idea from the early 1990s, it is ironic that it will lead to single payer. Imagine, sometime in the next 15 years, when single payer is the federal law of the land, the GOP will be cursing people like the late Sen. John Chafee for being an early advocate of what would become the ACA.

[liberal_at_heart]

3. our premiums went from $775 to $925

We're dropping my husband's policy. He is disabled and just qualified for Medicare. This will save us hundreds of dollars a month. Whether he qualified for Medicare or not something was going to have to go. There is just no way we could have continued to afford $925 a month. We would have been forced to cancel even if he hadn't qualified for Medicare. Obamacare will have to address this problem or we will have more people choosing to pay the penalty or tax rather than paying for insurance.

[flamingdem]

4. I'm getting a 20% increase in CA

and I'm pissed off about it! Can't wait for 2014, but still unsure of the impact, no one seems to know for sure..

[eridani]

14. Under ACA, increases of less than 10% a year will be allowed without review

So look for year after year of 9.9% increases.

[DearHeart]

5. What I would like to know is, if you're unemployed, uninsured and not eligible for Medicare,

will people still be penalized for not having insurance? Knowing my luck...

[jillan]

6. Correct me if I'm wrong, but won't they have to pay a penalty for jacking up prices without

explanation?

Isn't there something in Obamacare to prevent them from doing this?
Or does that not take effect until 2014?

[Recursion]

12. They have to justify it to HHS. They generally can

As long as provider prices keep going up, insurance premiums will too.

[xxxsdesdexxx]

7. we really need universal health care that is funded by a single payer system

If you want to begin solving some of our largest problems such as the debt, rapidly rising health care costs, increased access to preventative care, etc. then we must switch to a universal single payer health care system. We can eliminate the for profit middlemen known as the health insurance industry, we can pay less per capita because everyone would be paid for and there would be 300 million of them, we can prevent the current death panels who won't insure those with preexisting conditions, we can prevent bankruptcies which can result in the loss of one's home due not being able to pay their medical bills, etc. Dental coverage should also be a part of this system. We need this and we need it now!

[defacto7]

8. Absolutely, this is correct.

Welcome to DU!

[defacto7]

10. It's all business...

Corporate control is the name of the game. They will skirt, twist, run around, or do whatever they can to make a buck manipulating our antiquated system as it is. They first must be regulated then dispensed with. Outside of that, our health care system is screwed.

Insurance companies are NOT our friends.

[Demo_Chris]

13. You are now required by LAW to buy their products

OF COURSE they are going to raise rates, cut payouts, raise co-pays and deductables, and eliminate service. Why WOULDN'T they? They exist for one reason and one reason only -- to make as much profit as they possibly can in the shortest possible period. And every penny of that profit comes from collecting more from patients than they have to pay out in claims and overhead.

And now, by law, whether you think they suck or not, whether they every give you anything for your money, you have to buy. It's a license to steal.

[BainsBane]

17. not until 2014

So no, you are not yet required to buy insurance.

[BainsBane]

16. this is why states should move quickly to set up exchanges

that will enable small businesses and individuals to buy insurance for larger group rates.