HOLLYWOOD
01-06-2011, 06:58 PM
Blue Shield states this is due the new state and Federal(ObamaCare) Health Care Laws... but HHS Sibilus jumped today to say, "this is not because of ObamaCare".
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jan/05/business/la-fi-insure-rates-20110106
Blue Shield of California seeks rate hikes of as much as 59% for individuals
Insurer says the increases result from fast-rising healthcare costs and other expenses resulting from new healthcare laws. The move comes less than a year after Anthem Blue Cross tried and failed to raise rates as much as 39%.
http://www.historycommons.org/events-images/a999bcbs_2050081722-32647.gif
January 05, 2011 (http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jan/05)|By Duke Helfand, Los Angeles Times
Another big California health insurer has stunned individual policyholders with huge rate increases — this time it's Blue Shield of California seeking cumulative hikes of as much as 59% for tens of thousands of customers March 1.
Blue Shield's action comes less than a year after Anthem Blue Cross tried and failed to raise rates as much as 39% for about 700,000 California customers.
San Francisco-based Blue Shield said the increases were the result of fast-rising healthcare costs and other expenses resulting from new healthcare laws.
"We raise rates only when absolutely necessary to pay the accelerating cost of medical care for our members," the nonprofit insurer told customers last month.
In all, Blue Shield said, 193,000 policyholders would see increases averaging 30% to 35%, the result of three separate rate hikes since October.
Nearly 1 in 4 of the affected customers will see cumulative increases of more than 50% over five months.
While most policyholders received separate notices for the successive rate hikes, others were given the news all at once because they had contracts guaranteeing their rate for a year, Blue Shield spokesman Tom Epstein said.
Michael Fraser, a Blue Shield policyholder from San Diego, learned recently that his monthly bill would climb 59%, to $431 from $271.
"When I tell people, their jaws drop and their eyes bug out," said Fraser, 53, a freelance advertising writer. "The amount is stunning."
Like many people who hold individual policies, Fraser is self-employed. Others who carry such insurance include people who aren't covered by employer plans or who have been laid off.
The Blue Shield increases triggered complaints to new Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, and they could prove to be an early test of how the former Democratic state assemblyman deals with rate hikes and the insurance industry.
Anthem's attempt to raise rates by up to 39% led to national outrage and helped President Obama marshal support for his healthcare overhaul. The insurer was ultimately forced to back down, accepting maximum rate hikes of 20%.
Jones said the Blue Shield move underscored the need for the Legislature to give the insurance commissioner legal authority to regulate insurance rates the same way he does automobile coverage.
At present, the commissioner can block increases only if insurers spend less than 70% of premium income on claims. Jones' office said Blue Shield's March 1 increase was under review.
California, Federal Officials(Sibelius) vow to push back against Blue Shield Rate Hikes
http://www.latimes.com/business/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-us-health-insurance-hikes,0,2003318.story
LOS ANGELES (AP) — U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/government/kathleen-sebelius-PEPLT007554.topic) and California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones are vowing to push back against massive health insurance rate hikes proposed by Blue Shield.
Blue Shield has implemented two rate hikes since Oct. 1 and plans another for March 1. Some policyholders would pay 59 percent more in premiums cumulatively over the three increases.
Jones, who has been an insurance regulator for only 72 hours, said in a press conference Thursday that he's asked the insurer for a 60-day delay in implementing the hike so he can fully review the recent rate increases that Blue Shield has proposed. But he noted his powers are limited.
Blue Shield did not immediately provide a response Thursday.
"Many Californians are understandably angry and upset over these rate hikes," said Jones. "Unfortunately, under California law it's simply the case that the insurance commissioner does not have ability to simply reject excessive rate increases."
Jones announced Tuesday he is calling for increased enforcement powers by emergency regulation.
California has a "rate and file" law in which a rate hike proposal goes into effect 30 days after it is filed with the commissioner's office.
The only way a rate hike can be rejected by the commissioner is if it fails to meet the legal "medical loss ratio" requirement, or the required percentage of premiums that must be dedicated to medical care. Until this year, state regulation required insurers to spend 70 percent of premiums on health care, but federal reform now requires them to spend 80 percent on non-administrative costs.
In a statement, Sebelius says she's ready to assist California, and that rate increases "without public scrutiny" would be the wave of the future if federal health care reform (http://www.latimes.com/topic/economy-business-finance/financial-business-services/healthcare-access/health-care-reform-%282009%29-EVHST0000197.topic) were repealed.
"The people of California have a right to be concerned when they see this kind of rate increase month after month," said Sebelius. "We stand ready to assist (Jones) and the people of California in any way that we can."
Blue Shield's rate hike announcement comes as a freshman class of Republican congressmen arrives in Washington, vowing to make good on campaign promises to repeal federal health care reform.
Rate hikes have been central to the health care reform debate since President Barack Obama's (http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/government/barack-obama-PEPLT007408.topic) final push to pass the bill, when he held up a massive proposed rate increase from Anthem Blue Cross as an example of a broken health care system.
The hike from California's largest insurer would have cost individual policyholders 25 percent more in premiums on average, with some customers facing 39 percent hikes. Following scrutiny from state-hired actuaries, Anthem's rate filing was found to have profitable errors, and the hike was reduced to 14 percent on average.
Dave Heller, executive director for Santa Monica-based consumer advocacy group Consumer Watchdog, said the rate hikes are a "shot across the bow" against Democratic leaders, and a signal to new Republican congressmen that the industry is willing to aid their fight to overturn reform.
"This is emblematic of one of the problems we see in the health insurance industry, where they do what's called death by a thousand cuts for consumers, with an accumulation of rate increases until holding a policy is no longer affordable," said Heller.
Only about 5 percent of non-elderly Americans have individual insurance policies, a realm that would be regulated for price fairness and quality by state-operated, online marketplaces called health care exchanges, which are to be up and running by 2014.
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jan/05/business/la-fi-insure-rates-20110106
Blue Shield of California seeks rate hikes of as much as 59% for individuals
Insurer says the increases result from fast-rising healthcare costs and other expenses resulting from new healthcare laws. The move comes less than a year after Anthem Blue Cross tried and failed to raise rates as much as 39%.
http://www.historycommons.org/events-images/a999bcbs_2050081722-32647.gif
January 05, 2011 (http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jan/05)|By Duke Helfand, Los Angeles Times
Another big California health insurer has stunned individual policyholders with huge rate increases — this time it's Blue Shield of California seeking cumulative hikes of as much as 59% for tens of thousands of customers March 1.
Blue Shield's action comes less than a year after Anthem Blue Cross tried and failed to raise rates as much as 39% for about 700,000 California customers.
San Francisco-based Blue Shield said the increases were the result of fast-rising healthcare costs and other expenses resulting from new healthcare laws.
"We raise rates only when absolutely necessary to pay the accelerating cost of medical care for our members," the nonprofit insurer told customers last month.
In all, Blue Shield said, 193,000 policyholders would see increases averaging 30% to 35%, the result of three separate rate hikes since October.
Nearly 1 in 4 of the affected customers will see cumulative increases of more than 50% over five months.
While most policyholders received separate notices for the successive rate hikes, others were given the news all at once because they had contracts guaranteeing their rate for a year, Blue Shield spokesman Tom Epstein said.
Michael Fraser, a Blue Shield policyholder from San Diego, learned recently that his monthly bill would climb 59%, to $431 from $271.
"When I tell people, their jaws drop and their eyes bug out," said Fraser, 53, a freelance advertising writer. "The amount is stunning."
Like many people who hold individual policies, Fraser is self-employed. Others who carry such insurance include people who aren't covered by employer plans or who have been laid off.
The Blue Shield increases triggered complaints to new Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, and they could prove to be an early test of how the former Democratic state assemblyman deals with rate hikes and the insurance industry.
Anthem's attempt to raise rates by up to 39% led to national outrage and helped President Obama marshal support for his healthcare overhaul. The insurer was ultimately forced to back down, accepting maximum rate hikes of 20%.
Jones said the Blue Shield move underscored the need for the Legislature to give the insurance commissioner legal authority to regulate insurance rates the same way he does automobile coverage.
At present, the commissioner can block increases only if insurers spend less than 70% of premium income on claims. Jones' office said Blue Shield's March 1 increase was under review.
California, Federal Officials(Sibelius) vow to push back against Blue Shield Rate Hikes
http://www.latimes.com/business/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-us-health-insurance-hikes,0,2003318.story
LOS ANGELES (AP) — U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/government/kathleen-sebelius-PEPLT007554.topic) and California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones are vowing to push back against massive health insurance rate hikes proposed by Blue Shield.
Blue Shield has implemented two rate hikes since Oct. 1 and plans another for March 1. Some policyholders would pay 59 percent more in premiums cumulatively over the three increases.
Jones, who has been an insurance regulator for only 72 hours, said in a press conference Thursday that he's asked the insurer for a 60-day delay in implementing the hike so he can fully review the recent rate increases that Blue Shield has proposed. But he noted his powers are limited.
Blue Shield did not immediately provide a response Thursday.
"Many Californians are understandably angry and upset over these rate hikes," said Jones. "Unfortunately, under California law it's simply the case that the insurance commissioner does not have ability to simply reject excessive rate increases."
Jones announced Tuesday he is calling for increased enforcement powers by emergency regulation.
California has a "rate and file" law in which a rate hike proposal goes into effect 30 days after it is filed with the commissioner's office.
The only way a rate hike can be rejected by the commissioner is if it fails to meet the legal "medical loss ratio" requirement, or the required percentage of premiums that must be dedicated to medical care. Until this year, state regulation required insurers to spend 70 percent of premiums on health care, but federal reform now requires them to spend 80 percent on non-administrative costs.
In a statement, Sebelius says she's ready to assist California, and that rate increases "without public scrutiny" would be the wave of the future if federal health care reform (http://www.latimes.com/topic/economy-business-finance/financial-business-services/healthcare-access/health-care-reform-%282009%29-EVHST0000197.topic) were repealed.
"The people of California have a right to be concerned when they see this kind of rate increase month after month," said Sebelius. "We stand ready to assist (Jones) and the people of California in any way that we can."
Blue Shield's rate hike announcement comes as a freshman class of Republican congressmen arrives in Washington, vowing to make good on campaign promises to repeal federal health care reform.
Rate hikes have been central to the health care reform debate since President Barack Obama's (http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/government/barack-obama-PEPLT007408.topic) final push to pass the bill, when he held up a massive proposed rate increase from Anthem Blue Cross as an example of a broken health care system.
The hike from California's largest insurer would have cost individual policyholders 25 percent more in premiums on average, with some customers facing 39 percent hikes. Following scrutiny from state-hired actuaries, Anthem's rate filing was found to have profitable errors, and the hike was reduced to 14 percent on average.
Dave Heller, executive director for Santa Monica-based consumer advocacy group Consumer Watchdog, said the rate hikes are a "shot across the bow" against Democratic leaders, and a signal to new Republican congressmen that the industry is willing to aid their fight to overturn reform.
"This is emblematic of one of the problems we see in the health insurance industry, where they do what's called death by a thousand cuts for consumers, with an accumulation of rate increases until holding a policy is no longer affordable," said Heller.
Only about 5 percent of non-elderly Americans have individual insurance policies, a realm that would be regulated for price fairness and quality by state-operated, online marketplaces called health care exchanges, which are to be up and running by 2014.