[Trientoriciom]

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

Blue Shield of California seeks rate hikes of as much as 59% for individuals

Insurer says the increases result from fast-rising healthcare costs and other expenses resulting from new healthcare laws. The move comes less than a year after Anthem Blue Cross tried and failed to raise rates as much as 39%.

January 05, 2011|By Duke Helfand, Los Angeles Times

Another big California health insurer has stunned individual policyholders with huge rate increases — this time it's Blue Shield of California seeking cumulative hikes of as much as 59% for tens of thousands of customers March 1.

Blue Shield's action comes less than a year after Anthem Blue Cross tried and failed to raise rates as much as 39% for about 700,000 California customers.

San Francisco-based Blue Shield said the increases were the result of fast-rising healthcare costs and other expenses resulting from new healthcare laws.

"We raise rates only when absolutely necessary to pay the accelerating cost of medical care for our members," the nonprofit insurer told customers last month.

In all, Blue Shield said, 193,000 policyholders would see increases averaging 30% to 35%, the result of three separate rate hikes since October.

[RildFiemodo]

Luckily there's a law that recently passed that forces them to justify these increases. Blue Cross tried something similar a year ago and rolled back the increases under the glare of scrutiny.

Unwittingly, Blue Shield just became the poster child for how Health Care Reform will protect consumers from rampant abuses on the part of insurers.

[cucceevevaind]

San Diego Union-Tribune: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2...e-shield-rate/

Drastic rate hike proposals in California last year served as national fodder for federal lawmakers promoting the Affordable Care Act, which was signed into law last March. Anthem Blue Cross initially proposed a 39 percent increase last spring, with other insurers suggesting similar rates.

The companies ultimately settled on average rates ranging between 14 and 18 percent.

California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones said the situation underscored why, as an Assemblyman, he had pushed for six years to give the state insurance commissioner the power to regulate insurance rates and reject those deemed excessive. Last year, Jones co-sponsored a bill with that language that was voted down by the Legislature on the last day of the session.

...

The Blue Shield controversy prompted U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sibelius to weigh in, issuing a statement that she has contacted Jones to offer assistance if needed.

“The people of California have a right to be concerned when they see this kind of rate increase month after month,” she said.
Sibelius said the federal Affordable Care Act — which Republicans in the House of Representatives have vowed to repeal next week — is aimed at protecting consumers from such rate hikes.