Blue Shield of Calif. to proceed with rate hikes despite calls from government regulators to delay

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Blue Shield of Calif. to proceed with rate hikes

By MARCUS WOHLSEN, Associated Press Marcus Wohlsen, Associated Press – Sat Jan 15, 12:43 am ET

SAN FRANCISCO – Blue Shield of California said Friday it was planning to go forward with scheduled health insurance rate increases for individual policyholders, despite calls from government regulators to delay the move.

The San Francisco-based insurer said that it has asked an independent actuary to review the increases and would issue refunds if problems were found with the rates.

California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones had asked Blue Shield to delay planned increases on March 1 so his department could conduct a full review.

The insurer has implemented two rate hikes since Oct. 1. Some policyholders would pay 59 percent more in premiums cumulatively over the three increases.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110115/ap_on_bi_ge/us_health_insurance_hikes

[Poboy]

1. Thank God it passed.

[jody]

2. Will CA govt also force their employee unions to forgo pay and benefit increases? nt

[KeepItReal]

3. This is for individual plans not the group coverage ones

eom

[aquart]

4. IOW, they're soaking the people who didn't or couldn't organize.

They're going after people with no one to look out for them.

[KeepItReal]

5. Precisely

Even the CA Insurance commissioner can't stop 'em

[Vinca]

6. It has always puzzled me why the self-employed seem to be expendable

in this country. We get no benefits (other than glorious freedom)and have to beg for health care.

[xchrom]

7. Recommend

[begin_within]

8. Well, they've priced themselves out of me...

...I don't know if they are pricing themselves out of the rest of the self-employed market, but they have with me. I got the letter stating that as of March 1, my 3-month premium will be going from $531 to $678, and I can't afford that. It's really crappy coverage too, high deductible and many copayments and out-of-pocket expenses. So I'm just letting them go after 12 years. I wonder how many other people are.