Don't tell me this is a result of Obamacare! Don't even try it! They've been pulling this crap for years.
I've changed my mind; I now hope Obamacare causes these greedy insurance companies to fold. I'd rather go without than pay their ransom. I'd rather have full-on socialized healthcare!
http://abcnews.go.com/US/blue-...al/story?id=12555419
quote:Tens of thousands health insurance policyholders in California begin the new year bracing for rate hikes of up to 59 percent in the coming months -- and they are not the only insurance company hiking rates. Wendy Lemlin recently found out her rates are going up too.
"I will probably drop my health insurance and pray that I continue to be as healthy as I've been," she said today.
Under the new health care reform law, the federal government is able to shine a spotlight on rate increases, but it can't reject them. To customers like Lemlin who want someone to confront the insurance companies, Secretary of Health and Homeland Security Kathleen Sebelius said "that's really what the state authority would do."
In California, the state insurance commissioner does not have full regulatory authority over rate increases. Sebelius recommended customers contact their state legislators directly to urge them to fix it....
Californians like Michael Frasier, who runs a sporting goods company, say they feel helpless. "I feel like there's nothing I can do about this since it's out of my hands, and there's no law to prevent this right now in California."
He first thought the letter from Blue Shield telling him of his 59 percent rate increase "was a joke."
But now, reality is setting in -- beginning March 1 his monthly payment will increase from $271 to $431. "I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I'm considering dropping my health care insurance completely. It's kind of scary at 53."
Blue Shield in San Francisco said 193,000 policyholders will see increases averaging 30 to 35 percent after three separate rate hikes since October.
In a statement issued today, Blue Shield said the new rates "reflect trends that were building long before health reform" and "our individual market medical costs are rising." Blue Shield of California said it expects to lose tens of millions of dollars on its individual healthcare business in 2010 and 2011.
Blaming the tough economy is "pretty outrageous," Frasier said. "If I tried to charge my clients 59 percent more, they would laugh me out of the room."
The national health care reform law will eventually allow the federal government to spotlight rate hikes that it deems excessive, discriminatory or unjustified, but those rules will not be final for months and will not stop rate increaso by Blue Shield of California.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services unveiled health insurance rate review regulations on Tuesday, requiring justification for all increases of more than 10 percent. The proposed regulations defer to states' review laws.
Blue Shield said its new rates meet the federal requirement that 80 percent of premiums be spent on healthcare expenses....