My Blue Cross Health Premium Was Raised Twice In Three Months......

[global1]

I now pay as a self-employed business - $1953.OO every two months. Yesterday I came across the fact that in Rochester, NY there is an arena named Blue Cross Arena. Does anybody know what Blue Cross is paying to be able to have an Arena named after them?

Is this why my premiums are going up? Is this right? Should Health Insurance companies use their monies to name an arena?

[HamdenRice]

1. Your premiums are going up because insurance companies are the worst investors of all

All institutional investors are losing money. But one thing I learned in my stint in finance is that the insurance companies are the most incompetent investors of all institutional investors. An investment bank or a commercial banks wants to make money -- for themselves, for their clients -- even if it's now been shown they made huge errors. There are serious repercussions to losing money for them.

But insurance companies don't worry about losing money. They can just raise premiums. They are supposed to invest premiums wisely so they can pay out claims. Instead the invest stupidly, and spend most of their efforts either raising premiums or denying claims.

In my experience in finance, when an investment bank was syndicating an investment (ie slicing up and selling a bunch of securities or bank loans to institutional investors), the attitude was, if there was a piece of dogshit series in the syndication, it was like, "let's feed it to the insurance companies; they're really stupid and they'll take anything."

[Vinca]

2. The premiums are going up because no one is stopping them

from screwing the Americans who can still afford to buy the stuff. It doesn't matter what they spend the money on. It'll probably go higher, too, now that Obama has been elected and the insurance industry is on the chopping block. They're making hay while they can. I was shredding some old records the other day and came across a health insurance bill from 1999. It was $524 a quarter. (I'm self-employed, too.) When I dropped it at the end of 2003 it had gone to about $3,000 a quarter and the deductible had doubled. All we can do is hope Obama ends this madness.

[LaurenG]

3. They all do that every year

going up twice is not typical though.

The company I work for is looking for health insurance offering lower premiums, since Humana went up 24% for 2009. We had blue cross in 2007 (Anthem here in Ohio) and they outright refused to cover us last year.

Insurance companies are in it for profit, which I think is reasonable but not at the expense of everyone except them. Some of the CEO's, (who are mostly Md's) make millions each year, their bonuses are of course based on lower dollar value on claims. People should never wonder why an insurer denies a procedure or increases premiums anymore, it's about the $.

[bobd0]

4. Our premiums went up, coverage went down,

and there is now a $4,000 out-of-pocket requirement that effectively turned our health care coverage into catastrophic care coverage.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

5. That's happening to everyone

I know someone who had great insurance coverage due to her husband's union job until last year. Then all of a sudden, the union was unable to find anyone who would continue that kind of coverage, so co-pays went up, and they had deductibles for the first time.

In Minnesota, health insurance companies are supposed to be "non-profit," but they sure act like profit-making bloodsuckers.

[elehhhhna]

6. Several years agp the nonprofit blue cross companies in IIRC 8 states

converted to For Profit status.

Do the math.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

7. I feel your pain.....

My boss has just informed me that I can either: a) accept a MUCH higher deductible ($3,000 - $5,000 - and its $1,100 already), b) have a bunch more deducted from my paycheck (and I'm not making that much now), or c) be dropped from the coverage altogether. I'll probably take choice (a), and hope I can stay healthy.

This system does not work. We need something better and soon.