Get sick: get SCREWED !

[theLIBERTARIAN]

[Nictoe]

Study: Individual health insurance premiums skyrocketing

By The Associated Press
Monday, June 21st, 2010

People who buy their own health insurance have been hit lately with premium hikes that far exceed increases in premiums for employer-sponsored coverage, according to a new survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

The nonprofit foundation, which is separate from health insurer Kaiser Permanente, said recent premium hikes requested by insurers for individual coverage averaged 20 percent. Some customers were able to switch plans and pay less, so people paying on their own actually wound up paying 13 percent more on average.

That tops last year's average 5 percent annual increase for employer-sponsored family coverage and almost unchanged premiums for employer-sponsored single coverage, though foundation Vice President Gary Claxton said the comparisons come with qualifications.

The individual insurance survey asked respondents for their most recent premium increases, and those can happen more or less frequently than the annual increases mostly seen in the group market, he noted.

In the online poll, Kaiser queried 1,038 randomly selected people who pay for their own coverage.

Individual health insurance premiums generally rise faster than group coverage rates. They can be affected by variables like a person's age. They also can be affected by rising medical and drug costs and are more vulnerable when a bad economy makes healthy people drop coverage.

That can leave an insurer with a higher concentration of sick people who keep coverage because they need it more and thus generate more claims.

The market also appears to be cyclical, with a big increase following a couple years of smaller ones, said Robert Laszewski, a health care consultant and former insurance executive who wasn't involved with the Kaiser study.

But even with a sizable average increase, individual premiums still span a wide range from no increases to huge hikes.

"There is no real consistency," Laszewski said.

Guy Gooding of Sobieski, Wis., who is 59, said premiums for his and his wife's health coverage have risen 73 percent from 2007. They now pay about $646 per month, compared with $374 in 2007.

He said he has kept up with the increases because he doesn't want to sacrifice the quality of his coverage. But he'd like more of an explanation from his insurer, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield.

"They're very vague on why the increases have been as much as they have been," he said.

Insurers drew heavy criticism earlier this year after requesting premium increases of 20 percent or more from their individual customers in several different markets. Analysts who follow the insurance industry say reports of those increases helped re-ignite the health care reform debate.

Congress then passed in March a reform bill that aims to offer health coverage to millions of uninsured people and help people buy individual coverage through exchanges that will be launched in 2014.

About 14 million Americans under age 65 receive health insurance through the non-group or individual market, according to the foundation. In contrast, about 157 million U.S. residents get their coverage through an employer.

Kaiser conducted the survey in March and April. The results had a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
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Live Green, LIVE FREE

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[Nictoe]

Consumer group: Insurers kept surplus while hiking premiums

By Alison Young, USA TODAY

Non-profit Blue Cross and Blue Shield health plans stockpiled billions of dollars during the past decade, yet continued to hit consumers with double-digit premium increases, Consumers Union found in an analysis of 10 of the plans' finances.

Insurers must keep surplus money to ensure they can pay policyholders' medical bills if unexpected market conditions develop. Yet seven of the plans examined held more than three times the amount regulators consider the minimum needed to do that, according to a report being released today by the non-profit consumer group.

"Consumers are struggling to afford health coverage," said report author Sondra Roberto. "Those funds could be used in some cases to mitigate these rate increases."

The report calls on state insurance regulators to scrutinize surpluses when considering rate increases and set maximum limits for surpluses. In most states, it said, regulators focus only on ensuring companies have minimum surpluses to be financially sound.

Alissa Fox, a senior vice president at the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, said this is a "dangerous" time for regulators to limit health plans' surpluses because of great uncertainty about how insurance costs will change under the nation's new health law. "It's a safety net," she said.

Consumers Union studied non-profit Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans because they cover one in three Americans with private insurance.

Examples cited in the report include:

•Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona: A $717.1 million surplus in 2009, seven times the regulatory minimum. The plan raised rates for individual market customers by as much as 18% in 2009. Company spokeswoman Regena Frieden said: "We believe the amount we have in reserves is appropriate."

• Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oregon: A surplus of $565.2 million in 2009, about 3.6 times the regulatory minimum. The plan raised rates on some individual plans an average of 25.3% in 2009 and 16% in 2010. Spokeswoman Angela Hult said the company lost money on its individual policies and that the surplus is "essential to protecting our members from surges in claims costs."

Regulating surpluses is a difficult balancing act because keeping plans financially sound is critical, regulators said. Each plan has different surplus risks and needs depending on its members.

Oregon Insurance Division administrator Teresa Miller, whose office considered Regence's surplus and limited its request for a higher 2010 rate hike, said: "The tough question is how much surplus is too much surplus. There is no agreement on that."

The Oregon Legislature last year gave state regulators the explicit authority to consider a company's surplus when it reviews rates — a tool Miller said her agency had sought since 2007. A report on the agency's website charts how surplus levels have risen since 2001.

In Michigan, a law caps the surplus of the state's Blue Cross Blue Shield plan at five times the regulatory minimum. Insurance Commissioner Ken Ross said the state's Legislature wanted to give the insurer flexibility but also protect consumers against the possibility the plan could hold too much money in its surplus funds. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan has rarely neared the limit and usually is about halfway between the minimum and maximum. "It seems to have worked relatively well," Ross said.

The company insures more than half of the people in Michigan, Ross said, so it's critical it have enough capital to remain financially sound. "Their health in many ways goes to the health of the entire health care system in Michigan," he said.
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Live Green, LIVE FREE

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[Biscuit]

Let Michael Moore fix it.

[theLIBERTARIAN]

If the non-profits are doing that, then what are the for-profits doing?

[Biscuit]

Double of what the non-profits are!!