Steep Increases in Health Insurance Premiums Cited as Reason to Pass Reforms NOW

by L.A.S.

Several stories are in the news and are the talk around water coolers everywhere, regarding the steep increases in premiums for individual health insurance. As millions of Americans face unemployment and losing their group health coverage, they eventually fall past the coverage period for COBRA extensions of their group plan.
Shopping for healthcare insurance on their own has provided many rude surprises. It is made worse by the steep increase in premiums over the past year, in some cases hitting 40 to 60 percent.

Insurers say that healthy people are opting to go without insurance coverage, leaving the insurers to issue policies to the sicker people filling out applications.

That may be true, but increases of 8.5 percent all the way up to 60 percent can put one in the emergency room with chest pains!! Those percentages appear in a Chicago Tribune story on this problem. The Illinois insurance commissioner's office apparently does not receive information from insurance carriers regarding premium increases on an annual basis, although many states do.

Premiums commonly reach $1000-2000 per month for individual policies. This pushes people into choosing between paying for rent-food-utilities OR for health insurance coverage.

The recent increases have spurred increased attention from the Obama administration and calls to pass healthcare reform now. HHS Secretary Sebelius convened a meeting with the CEO's of several larger insurance carriers to discuss the recent premium hikes in the White House Roosevelt Room.

The CEO's of the following insurers came to the White House: Wellpoint, Aetna, Cigna, UnitedHealth Group and other companies not named. Also state insurance commissioners from Kansas, West Virginia and Pennsylvania came.

Ronald Williams of Aetna praised the administration for bringing them together to discuss the problem and said “this is what we need more of, everyone at the table collaborating.”

The Kansas insurance commissioner, Sandy Praeger, stated that “people are reaching the breaking point.”

Related stories:
Individual health insurance policy premiums soaring; Illinois consumers to pay up to 60 percent more, data show, www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-individual-health-insurance-premiums-mar04,0,223417.story

Sec'y Sebelius huddles with insurers, states over double-digit health insurance rate increases, www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-ap-us-health-insurers,0,1976793.story