![\"anthem\"](\"http:\/\/s.wsj.net\/public\/resources\/images\/OB-HP681_anthem_D_20100219114455.jpg\")
And speaking of the health-overhaul proposals (see previous post), we note an armful of stories today dealing with what has become a third-rail issue — the rates at which premiums are going up for individual health plans.<\/p>\nAnd speaking of the health-overhaul proposals (see previous post), we note an armful of stories today dealing with what has become a third-rail issue — the rates at which premiums are going up for individual health plans.<\/p>\n
The cost of health policies has been an eye-of-the-beholder issue for a long time in the overhaul debate. There’s been broad agreement that individual rates are headed up, but overhaul opponents have contended they would rise even more under Democratic-backed health-system changes, while the Dems argued that rising rates are evidence of why overhaul measures are needed.<\/p>\n
There matters stood pretty much unresolved until complaints surfaced this month <\/a>about WellPoint’s Anthem Blue Cross of California unit moving to boost policy premiums by as much as 39%. Democrats saw an opening and a chance to build momentum on the cost issue leading up to the Feb. 25 bipartisan health summit.<\/p>\n HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius demanded a “detailed justification”<\/a> for the increases and followed up yesterday with a report<\/a> that cited other “extreme premium increases,” including requests to raise rates by 56% in Michigan, 24% in Connecticut, 23% in Maine and 20% in Oregon. The Washington Post<\/a> says this morning that Washington area residents also are being notified of premium hikes of as much as 40%. <\/p>\n Insurers say they are raising prices to keep up with rising medical costs and sicker customers<\/a>. The customer pool is sicker because as people lose their jobs, younger, healthier individuals are more likely to go without insurance in a difficult economy, skewing the mix of policy holders toward the elderly, a WellPoint executive told the WSJ<\/a> this morning.<\/p>\n Hope lives on that there might be a chance to cool down this hot-button issue. Karen Ignagni, head of insurers’ lobbying group America’s Health Insurance Plans, told the WaPo: “It’s time to stop the politics of vilification.”<\/p>\n Read more in today’s Los Angeles Times<\/a> and New York Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n Photo: Getty Images<\/em><\/p>\n And speaking of the health-overhaul proposals (see previous post), we note an armful of stories today dealing with what has become a third-rail issue — the rates at which premiums are going up for individual health plans. The cost of health policies has been an eye-of-the-beholder issue for a long time in the overhaul debate. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":792,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-340478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/792"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340478\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/img><\/a>
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