Ron Schenone

Anthem Blue Cross Wants A 39% Rate Hike For California Policy Holders

Posted by on Feb 23, 2010 | 10 Comments

When I first read this story I was absolutely amazed that in an economy that is still really from an economic down turn, that any company would have the guts to raise rates. But I guess that the medical industry doesn’t really care about you and I or their members, when they can propose a 39% rate hike. What is truly unbelievable is that Anthem Blue Cross is almost giving the finger to the President of the United States, congress and telling the American people, screw you!

In a L.A. Times article it stated this:

In a letter to the administration, health insurance giant WellPoint Inc. of Indianapolis said that increases of as much as 39%, set to take effect March 1, reflect soaring medical costs and an exodus of healthy consumers from its ranks.

Say what?  You do not need to be a brain surgeon to figure this out. Healthy people can not afford your high rates you nit wits! But not everyone will see a rate hike of 39%, some will see a hike of 25%, some no increases.

Company executives said that less than a quarter of affected Anthem customers in California will see rate increases of 35% to 39%. The average will be about 25%, while some customers will see rates fall, they said.

Which made me wonder. Why don’t they tell us how many of their 800,000 members will see a rate hike of 39%, 25% and so forth. Or is Anthem Blue Cross afraid to supply those numbers?

The latest is that Anthem Blue Cross has postponed the rate increase until May 1st. Yipee-skippy!

If you wonder why I am slightly pissed off about this increase it is because I am insured by these greedy bastards and have a retirement from California that offers only Anthem Blue Cross coverage.

Comments welcome.

Source L.A. Times

  • steve

    Ron, I agree with you at least on the surface. 39% is a big increase. California insurance is regulated by California. The rate increases are approved by the CA regulators. Insurance is a low margin operation. Upwards of 85% of money coming in goes out in bennies.

    One part of the problem is that health care costs are rising, because the product is improving. Health care today is not the health care of the 1950s. So , of course, the costs involved are increasing.

    Another part of teh problem is that many want “someone else” to pay for their health care. I have no idea how to change that mindset.

    ObamaCare does nothing to lower costs or improve health care. There is no way one can improve health care, increase access and lower costs.

    ObamaCare simply shifts costs to “someone else”.

  • Joe L

    President Obama´s health care plan doesn´t shift costs to “someone else”. And no one I know wants “someone else” to pay for their heath care. That is the tag line used by his detractors and by Republicans, which has no base in facts, and it is just used as a mindless scare tactic.

    All we need is access to all, and yes, Steve,
    -not free access, as you say- to affordable health care. First by allowing anyone to be able to buy it, without medical underwriting, as today. And second, if everybody is covered, like it happens in the rest of the industrialized World, cost is shared among all the premiums people pay among the very healthy, who are the huge majority, and the ones that happen to be very sick at that moment. This is what happens -I repeat- i the rest of the industrialized World, in one way or another.

    Please look here:

    http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html

    It´s a real shame, but the US ranks as #37in the ranking of public health, according to no other than the World Health Organization.

    Nobody wants “free” health care. That is a malicious lie.

  • Gena

    First of all it is the insurance industry, not the medical or health care industry that is yanking up the rates.

    Second, it is not just California and it is not just Blue Cross that is increasing their rates. The insurance industry is raising rates all over the country.

    Some of my friends across the nation are being forced to drop their already expensive insurance plans because of the hike in rates.

    I understand why some people feel the need to label this “ObamaCare” but the fact is despite your political affections everybody is getting reamed by this increase.

    There is no national health care program as yet. So how could it have an effect? What could the insurance industry be doing but a pre-emptive rate increase to stuff the mattress while they can.

    If it had been a single payer reform had been seriously considered we would have been in a better position to deal with this type of situation.

    Because market forces would have compelled the industry to create new products to compete with the governmental program. There is no incentive for them to do anything but rake it in as fast as they can.

    Now we have an insurance industry with good friends in Congress licensed to steal and purge out those they don’t want to carry.

  • Cliffystones

    I also have Blue Cross (different state). They hire nurses to call you to ask you if you have any concerns or questions about your health.

    Funny, I thought this was my Doctor’s job.

    And while I don’t disagree with the comments of the above reply, we all know that Insurance Companies seem to spend 2 dollars making patients jump through hoops in pathetic attempts to save 1 dollar.

  • gene

    steve you seem to have no clue what you are talking about. currently $1.82 out of every $10.00 actually goes to insurance companies overhead and paying on claims. that leaves $8.12 out of every $10.00 as pure profit for the insurance companies. as for hospitals they pay a penny a piece for tylenol and charge at least $5.00 a piece for them. it is true what barbara walters said “the average american is a moron”. we need the public option to compete with insurance companies to bring down insurance pricing.

  • Bill

    Anthem Blue Cross already phased out their 100/70 plan as of January 1 and now they charge slightly more for the 90/70 plan than the 100/70 used to cost. This doesn’t seem like a big deal on the surface, but my wife has cancer and now we have to pay an additional $100 to $300 every week thanks to that extra 10% we now have to pay (and this is in addition to the deductible and co-pay).

  • Cliffystones

    Sorry Gene, the “public option” is just the nanny state attempting to do my thinking for me.

    The average American can be a good consumer if they have access to information and aren’t forced to make split-second decisions about health care under duress.

    In what other industry or service is the customer required to sign a blank check for goods and services? That’s what health care providers do, make you sign a document making you financially responsible even if you are insured. And for whatever amount they feel like charging you after the service is rendered.

    Some simple ideas I have yet to see mentioned in the health care debate are the following.

    1. up front pricing. Any documents signed by the patient must include prices, with a percentage +/- for possible complications before services are rendered. Forcing them to sign a blank document should be made illegal.

    2. Uninsured and under-insured people can only be billed for the lowest negotiated insurance price. If a hospital can accept $3,000 for a $15,000 procedure from an insurance company, they have no business going after a person who might be between jobs or otherwise down on their luck for their pie-in-the-sky, fantasy price.

    The Liberals keep lamenting the fact that there are 31 million uninsured people in the US. Alan Combs made this assertion last night on Fox. OK, how about setting aside a find of say, $310 million for those people who at any given time might belong to that group? This combined with my first 2 ideas above would cost a mere drop in the bucket compared to what the real “morons” in Washington DC want to attempt, and solve the problem pretty thoroughly IMHO.

  • Cliffystones

    Correction.

    That 310 million should have read 310 billion, but the idea is the same. And I doubt all 31 million people are going to get sick at the same time when they find themselves uninsured.

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  • I Callahan

    currently $1.82 out of every $10.00 actually goes to insurance companies overhead and paying on claims. that leaves $8.12 out of every $10.00 as pure profit for the insurance companies.

    Absolutely 100% Wrong. Benefits average about 85% of premiums.

    I worked for an insurance company for 9 years in the Detroit area. I did their budget for 5 years. Health care percentage of premium was 88% EVERY YEAR I worked for them.

    gene – try reading a financial statement once in a while. They’re not that hard to interpret.