Californians brace for 59% premium hike
 

Californians brace for 59% premium hike - Jan 2011

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- One of California's largest health insurers - Blue Shield - announced plans to hike its premiums by as much as 59%. The jacked up premium rates are set to take effect on March 1, pending review from state insurance regulators. The company, a member of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association with 3.3 million members, which announced the move late Thursday, stressed that its decision has "almost nothing to do with the federal health reform law" and that ultimately the law will help slow down health care costs.

But responding to this most recent increase the company said, "our individual market medical costs are rising rapidly due to higher provider prices, increased utilization, and the fact that healthier people are dropping coverage during a bad economy," the company said. Despite the steep double-digit hike, the insurer maintained it still expects to lose tens of millions of dollars on its individual healthcare business in both 2010 and 2011.

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Prepare your asshole to be severely violated. :2 cents:

The federal government does not have the authority to review and strike down unreasonable rate increase requests.

Interesting. I find I'm saving a ton of money by just paying medical expenses out of pocket. In the past 5 years I've paid around $160 total.

<sarcasm>the new healthcare law will protect us </sarcasm>

That only works until you get sick.

Our health system sucks balls.

Or get in a car accident, or fall off a ladder... be very careful.

I'm probably going to drop blue shield

I know a few people that have Blue Shield and this will absolutely push them into a no coverage situation.

I had my premium go from $191 to $426 in just one year and a half. If they'll raise it by $59 again in only a few months - that'll make it around $700/mo!!! I mean how do they expect people ( who are not in the porn industry ) pay for it??? And I'm only 33 and on a very high deductable plan already!

Or until you put a sign on the wrong guys crap in the hallway.

Well the crap is gone now so I'm assuming the sign got the point across. :)

Odd this article says the exact opposite

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jan...rates-20110106

Oh yeah and this is a not for profit insurer. Those greedy bastards!

just more spin and lies to keep the sheep confused.

Pretty much. Im still waiting for the liberals to explain why not for profit insurers rates are going up faster than for profit......

Because they run a shitty business? Because for profit has profit to pad with? Because they've already had a lot of people leave so they have to balance it out?

Just 3 out of a few 1000 possible guesses.

I've never heard of an insurance company that lost money. This must be something new.

Lets face it, the real problem is not the insurance companies. Although I think the problem is the theory of insurance, but them raising costs is directly related to how much they need to pay the hospitals and doctors.

So lets predict the future. The federal government will someday step in and say doctors can only make X amount a year, can charge only X amount this and that. The hospitals costs will still be going up every year and the government will not be able to keep up with all the changes year to year so the quality of care will suffer while the hospitals try to balance their books.

History is repeating itself.

I think these guys misplaced a few dollars.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America...national_Group

never heard of AIG?

Really when the chairman of united healthcare gave himself a 500 million dollar bonus?

They charge like $20 for two aspirin in a hospital. Somewhere along the line someone is making money.

I think the Gov will step in and regulate malpractice awards before they regulate how much a Doctor can make. Doctors have a fighting voice, malpractice people don't.

Other Countries don't seem to have a problem with this, they regulate costs from products, equip, services, drugs, returns, speeds of returns, etc.. In America, Insurance companies set the standards and practices.. they control the cost of products by allowing hospitals/doctors to over inflate the costs.

Then dont use them :2 cents:

I dont like all the perks that the President of The United States gets. So can I bitch about that when there is only a public option and I have no choice? If I dont like the way a company does business I dont use them. But once there is only choice, which is the long term goal of Obamacare, then there are real problems. :2 cents:

if you look at the total cost of healthcare malpractice is such a small unimportant number compared to the big picture.

I thought lawyers were some of the biggest lobbyists in DC? Maybe Im wrong.

Other countries have a huge problem with all those regulations and we are starting to see it now where countries are starting to deregulate and cut their governments by a large %. Like the UK cutting government spending by 20%.

Malpractice insurance is the largest expense doctors have.

Yeah the real problem is Unions with ungodly ponzi schemes err I mean "pension plans", and government regulations, but you will never agree to that.

>Lobbysts are .lawyers.

Keyboard is fucked. You saw it here l.ive omn gfy.

You cant say then well the insurance companies charge more because their costs are so high when they are taking half a billion dollar bonuses. People keep talking about we have to be competitive with the world, well the world has socialized medicine.

3 1/p2 years omn this keyboard... why now? Why onm Friday mnightxs?

are you drunk?

To me if you live in CA you should look at Kaiser. They are based out of CA. I have them and they arent bad, they do raise my rates every year but not huge leaps.

Ha that sucks TheDoc, lets hope you have a back up!

Nmot at a.l.l. - It just broke, no shit.. as I was typing a reply it started putting stupid characters. However... Now it looks like it fixed itself while writing to you. ~ Thanks Amp!

too bad you didnt live near me Doc,I got 6 of them collecting dust in assorted closets in my home.

I've got a few boards laying around, just not split boards :/

No idea what happened but it's all clear after replying to amp.

Damnit my ottom row of keys on the left side are dead..

pfft... dinner, tv, life.. laters

They're raising rates due to compliance costs of ObamaCare.

You socialists thought all your mandates would be free?

The only way to fix healthcare in the US is to nationalize it.

I went to the Hospital on June 18 of 2010.

Bill was just over 31k. My out of pocket was just shy of 3k. I have Blue Cross / Blue Shield.

My treatment consisted of:

Blood Draw
IV
Antacid w/ lidocaine
CT Scan (abdomen)
Fentanyl Injection

Then sent home and told they can't find anything wrong.

Right, but if the people put the amount of money they would of paid for a policy, plus the deductible every year into savings, kinda like self insured.

If something major happens, your prob fucked anyway, so do like most do and skip out on the bill.

Blah

doctors want more money

The fact that the insurance company admits that it is a problem for them when people who lose money with their service drop them . . . "the fact that healthier people are dropping coverage during a bad economy" . . . not news, but it does distress me.

Soon you will be BEGGING for a national health care system.

quoted for truth.

Without a doubt. The government has rigged it that way.

Too bad we had a president that worked on his healthcare law instead of the economy, if we had a better economy, more people would have healthcare anyways and the cost would be less because more people would be paying for it.

this is a falsehood. there are more people paying for healthcare than ever before, and the costs have never gone down, only up.