Insurance Space

The state Division of Insurance has rejected a majority of insurers’ proposed health-premium increases for small businesses, sending a message that Gov. Deval Patrick’s administration is going to play hardball with the insurance industry over rate hikes that have reached 50 percent for some small businesses.

The move is a rare rebuke for the state’s insurers, as past rate hikes have essentially been rubber stamped by state regulators.

Last month, Harvard Pilgrim Care Plan officials told the BBJ they would be filing base-rate increases for small businesses of between 8.3 percent and 11.7 percent, while Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts said its small business rate increases, on average, would be in the mid-teens.

Senate Republicans attacked one of the federal health care bill’s most controversial parts Monday, passing a ban on insurance coverage for abortions out of a Senate committee.

Missouri has banned women from getting health insurance for abortions for more than two decades, with the exception of an abortion to protect the mother’s life.

“The federal bill threatens Missouri’s long-standing laws against funding abortion, and would compel taxpayers to fund abortions for the first time in American history,” said Sen. Scott Rupp, R-Wentzville, the bill’s sponsor.

The Senate Small Business Committee passed the bill, 5-1, despite opposition from Planned Parenthood representative Michelle Trupiano.

In the coming days, the House and Senate will take a critical up-or-down vote on historic health insurance reforms. Tied to them will be the most significant reform of our federal student loan program in a generation. It will make college aid more effective and cost-efficient for families and taxpayers without increasing the deficit. Congress should support both measures.

The case for fixing today’s backward student loan system is simple: According to the Congressional Budget Office, the federal government is wasting $67 billion on subsidies to banks. President Obama and lawmakers, including some Republicans, believe these dollars could be better spent directly helping families pay for college.

Nearly 1 in 4 Californians under age 65 had no health insurance last year, according to a new report, as soaring unemployment propelled vast numbers of once-covered workers into the ranks of the uninsured.

The state’s uninsured population jumped to 8.2 million in 2009, up from 6.4 million in 2007, marking the highest number over the last decade, investigators from UCLA’s Center for Health Policy Research said.

People who were uninsured for part or all of 2009 accounted for 24.3% of California’s population under age 65 — a dramatic increase from 2007 driven largely by Californians who lost employer-sponsored health insurance, particularly over the last year.

Recently, health insurance companies have become an attractive target with supporters of reform focusing on insurers imposing sharp rate increases for individual insurance.

Advocates of the Democrats’ proposed legislation, from small level organizers to President Barack Obama, point towards the increase in rates for individuals. A pending 24% increase from Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield for its renowned Wisconsin plans is a sure proof of a broken system.

But, health economists are of the view that insurance companies can in no way be blamed for high health care costs.

A bill that would require health plans to submit their rate increases to government regulators before they take effect is gaining momentum in Congress.

The Health Insurance Rate Authority Act of 2010 was introduced this week by Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., and Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., to give Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius “the authority to deny or modify premium and rate increases found to be unreasonable.”

It’s the latest salvo in a push by Democrats in Congress and the Obama administration to make insurance companies justify their rate increases. The act could become its own law or woven into health care reform bills President Barack Obama is hoping to see passed later this month.

The scope of a congressional investigation into health insurance rate hikes in California expanded Tuesday as lawmakers summoned the chief executives of four of the nation’s largest for-profit health insurers to testify about medical claims denied for individuals with pre-existing conditions.

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce and its investigations subcommittee are targeting the practices of WellPoint Inc., UnitedHealth Group, Humana Inc. and Aetna.

The companies provide insurance to a large share of the estimated 17 million Americans who buy individual insurance policies because they do not have health coverage through jobs.

Unmarried older women are twice as likely to be without health insurance than are their married peers. This was the finding of a new policy brief from the University of California Center for Health Policy Research, which evaluated health issues and health insurance coverage among approximately 3 million older women.

According to Roberta Wyn, associate director of the center and the study’s lead author, women ages 50 to 64 face a “time of critical change,” because not only are they “at risk of new and complex health conditions, but as they near the age of retirement, their insurance status may change too.”

The Obama administration announced its support Tuesday for a bill by Rep. Betsy Markey to end antitrust exemptions for health insurance companies.

“The president announced the administration’s strong support for repealing the antitrust exemption currently enjoyed by health insurers because, at its core, health reform is all about ensuring that American families and businesses have more choices, benefit from more competition and have greater control over their own health care,” White House spokesman Adam Abrams told the Coloradoan.

“The president believes we need to set some common-sense rules of the road to make competitive markets work for families and help rein in the soaring cost of health care, and he appreciates Congresswoman Markey’s efforts to do just that.”

Health insurers across the country are dramatically increasing rates and slashing benefits for many of the 17 million consumers who have individual insurance policies. The issue is being addressed by the President, as he attempts to create an affordable insurance package in his overhaul of healthcare in the United States.

Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield in California, for example, has announced a rate increase of 39 to 60%. Currently, however, consumers have very little option except to pay the increase or drop coverage as affordable options are few.