Big Health Care Costs Make Consumers Ill

(CBS)  In Los Angeles, skyrocketing health care costs have a lot of people feeling sick.

Anthem Blue Cross, California's largest private health insurer, plans to raise rates on 700,000 households in the state. As of May 1, 2010, most monthly premiums would jump 25 percent with some climbing as much as 39 percent.

Anthem Blue Cross customer Ilene Lisak is seven months pregnant, but she wasn't expecting this letter from Anthem raising her premium from $525 to $708 per month, a 34.8 percent hike.

Nationwide, major insurance companies want to raise premiums by 20 percent in Oregon, 23 percent in Maine, 24 percent in Connecticut and a whopping 56 percent in Michigan, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

President Obama wants the government to be able to block large premium increases and demand rebates for consumers.

But insurance companies say they have to charge more because medical costs keep going up and fewer people are paying premiums after losing their jobs, reports CBS News correspondent Ben Tracy.

"Hospital costs are going up over 11 percent. Pharmaceutical costs are going up over 13 percent," says Brad Fluegel, executive vice president at Wellpoint, Inc. "That's what we really need to be focused on."

Wellpoint says last year it received an estimated $525 million in profit from Anthem.

Monday California's insurance regulator announced 732 violations by Anthem, including late payment of claims and misleading consumers.

"We want them to, number one, pay all claims on time. Number two, pay all claims completely," says California insurance commissioner Steve Poizner.

Lisak just wants to focus on picking out her baby's name. "You know, things that bring you joy," she says. "This is not joyful."

Not when you can't afford insurance but can't afford to live without it.

[JayAdler1]

Here is a comment that is a little different relative to the subject of Health Care. Why are we fixating mostly on reform in this area of insurance. State Farm abandoned the entire state of Florida as did Allstate in California. Nobody could stop them and they stranded millions of policy holders in the name of underwriting. You cannot get a homeowners policy in Nassau County, NY because it's been red lined for a mystical hurricane whose destiny is unsupportable. You cannot hold a mortgage without home insurance. Life insurance which many people can avoid by investing in mutual funds is one of the insurance types which most people are either excluded from or have to pay surcharges. Two young girls recently died as a result of the insurer denying a liver transplant.Underwriting format today is like the fox guarding the chicken coup. Since we have already bailed out several Life insurers I support the Federal Government stepping in and placing guidelines on all underwriting policies nationwide. Where's the hurricane?

[scattershot1232000]

Ooh and you INS companie fought so hard to get people behind you again and now you do a rate hike, Bad move. Guess we should re-think the public option.

[ianlou]

This is an example of the greed of the Health Insurance Companies.
They are raising the premium costs to hedge against the loses that healthcare reform might bring.

I wonder if they factored in the cost of further pissing off the American people at this critical time in the healthcare debate.

[starving1968-3]

by reveal4 February 22, 2010 9:52 PM EST
This will open the eyes of Americans across this country. The President was worried that health insurance costs would rise 100% in ten years without reform. Well, since reform was backshelved, the health insurance companies are way ahead of schedule on their rate hikes. At this rate, 100% inflation of health insurance prices should be accomplished by the health insurance companies within 2 or 3 years, not ten as the President feared. If this doesn't open people's minds to reform, nothing will.






Unfortunately, most of the tea baggees are only going to believe what Rush and Beck tell them.

[starving1968-3]

Big Health Care Costs Make Consumers Ill
Major insurance companies want to raise premiums between as much as 20 and 56 percent in some states






To all of you idiots that oppose health care reform because you have employer sponsored insurance, how many of these outrageous, and massive increases do you think that your employer is going to "eat", before they can no longer afford to provide you with insurance?

[from_the_north]

Isn't this why President Obama wants affordable health care for all Americans?

[Ronjon7]

Obamacare is not about affordability, it is all about insuring all at any cost. That's why the bill is already a failure. First, address improving the cost of health care with competition, tort reform, regulate pharmacy and hospital costs. When costs are controlled then we can talk about insuring everyone. Not the other way around.

[ianlou]

by Ronjon7 February 23, 2010 10:11 AM EST
Obamacare is not about affordability, it is all about insuring all at any cost. That's why the bill is already a failure. First, address improving the cost of health care with competition, tort reform, regulate pharmacy and hospital costs. When costs are controlled then we can talk about insuring everyone. Not the other way around.
*************************************************************
Allowing Health Insurance Companies to continue to decide how much they charge, what they cover and the amount of profit they make, while these improvements you mention are implimented, would be a waste of time and money. Only the insurance companies would gain from these improvements.

[tmittelstaed]

"...They really picked a lousy time to do this..."

So a better time is when Health Care Reform is good and dead, so that we the people can't do anything other than bend over and take it where the sun don't shine? Is that it?

You must work for an insurance company.

[jctakoma]

I was confused by the CBS story on health care, which seemed to be implying health insurance profits are out of control. A quick check online suggests profits are higher among certain health care providers, which presumably pass on their costs to the lower profit health care industry, at least according to one economist at the University of Michigan. An overall profit of 500 million sounds like a lot, but a profit of only 3% sounds quite modest and prudent. So are insurance companies the villains, as CBS seems to be implying? I'd like to see CBS research this issue a bit more. Source: http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2009/08/health-insurance-industry-ranks-86-by.html

[MiamiDemo]

by jctakoma February 23, 2010 1:39 AM EST
______________
Jack are you still in school? I suspect you are. Every thought about how much your 3% is going to cost you when you are ready to have that first baby, recover from that heart attack, pay for the PT you need after a car wreck. This is the real world and the one you visualize is a disaster. Health Care is broken. The greed is pretty rampant: doctors running surgery factories; Hospitals charging $4.00 a Tylenol Extra Strength; and the insurance companies continue to feed their kitty and pad their books. Your generation is saddled with enough debt I think. Further, I believe that if we continue to let it run wild there will not be anything left for your children.

[AlwaysSmiling]

For MiamiDemo,

You essentially made jctakoma's points. You mentioned 5 things that are related to the costs from the health care industry, and one from the insurance companies. jctakoma said that the health care providers are making a higher profit than the insurance companies. You just backed up his(her) points.

Either way, TRUE healthcare reform won't exist if they don't deal with both sides of the issue (Healthcare providers and health insurance companies).

[fdx22]

As long as the insurance companies keep raise premiums by double digit percentages, Obama's healthcare plan still has a chance. All that needs to happen is that people need to get angry enough about these rate increases and give their senators and congressmen an earful.

[porcine_aviator]

Or, they could give their congressmen and senators a buttful of lead.

I've had it with both parties. They've partied it up and all we have to show for it is a huge bill known as the national debt.

[HGOODGUY]

Until people realize that the only fair and effective way of healthcare is a single pay system that gives everyone a level playing field, the insurance companies will continue to operate with their arrogance and total impunity!!!

Keep in mind that human suffering in the way of denial of claims and pre-existing conditions are called PROFITS for them!!!