Individual health insurance policy premiums soaring

[n2doc]

By Bruce Japsen
Tribune staff reporter
6:35 a.m. CST, March 4, 2010

Consumers in Illinois who lose their jobs and have no other option but to buy their own health insurance will get socked this year with premium increases of up to 60 percent, according to state records.

That group of consumers has been growing, as the recession has created more uninsured Americans looking for ways to protect themselves and their families.Now, Illinois consumers will get a glimpse into just how wide-ranging rate increases among individual health plans can be. The data, obtained by the Tribune, also provide a window into the overall trend of premium increases at large and small employers.

For the state's more than half-million consumers in individual health plans, base rates will go up from 8.5 percent to more than 60 percent, according to state data. Base rates do not take into consideration health status, gender, age, place of residence and length of a policy -- all factors that could raise premiums further.

The individual insurance market is relatively small compared with consumers who get their insurance through their employers, but it has become the fastest-growing group in this economy, in which about one in 10 are unemployed. The individual market also has spawned a national debate after a California health insurer raised premiums for this group by up to 40 percent, triggering probes by state regulators and the Obama administration.
more

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-individual-health-insurance-premiums-mar04,0,223417.story

Health care reform NOW!

[Captain Hilts]

1. For the unemployed and unmarried self-employed, the option is no insurance. nt

[DCKit]

2. The pool is so large now, we should be able to self-insure.

It'd be a bitch to set up and administrate, but it's what we need.