People are ‘Frightened’ by Insurance Rate Hikes
The White House is continuing its pushback against health insurance rate hikes, asking insurers to put their rate increase requests online, as well as the actuarial data that supports the rate hikes.
“The current situation is simply unsustainable,” Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said today after meeting at the White House with the CEOs of five major insurance companies and leaders from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC).
Sebelius said she was prompted to call for the meeting “in part by rate increases announced around country and the input that I’ve had from people across America who are really frightened that they’re being priced out of the market, don’t know what’s coming next, want some information on what’s happening.”
President Obama attended the meeting as well.
Sebelius has led an aggressive effort from the White House to highlight the sky-rocketing insurance premiums facing consumers in numerous states. The push against the rate hikes was spurred by Anthem Blue Cross’ plan to raise rates by as much as 39 percent in the individual market in California.
Insurers have insisted they are increasing rates because of increasing medical costs, a point Aetna CEO Ron Williams made at the top of today’s meeting.
“We do things that don’t need to be done in terms of paying for procedures and not paying for results,” he said.
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Tags: Insurance, insurance rates