Source:
The OreogonianState regulators have approved every rate increase by Oregon's largest health insurance companies over the past three years, trimming the requests in only seven of 40 cases, records obtained by The Oregonian show. The Oregon Insurance Division approved every other request without changes from the seven companies seeking to raise individual and small-business premiums. The state reduced only two requested increases this year -- each for 20 percent from the state's largest insurer, Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon. Those increases were both shaved to 16 percent.
The result of Oregon's regulatory oversight: Average premiums for individuals and small businesses have climbed by more than 140 percent in seven years. "The current method of rate review is a pass-through," says Sean Moriarty, who serves on a state advisory panel that seeks to revise the way the state regulates insurers.
Moriarty is operations manager for a Portland construction equipment firm. He recently learned that his company's monthly insurance rates are going up 30 percent, from $351 to $456 per individual.
Rocketing medical costs and insurance premiums combined with their impact on consumers and the economy is at the center of the fierce congressional debate on how to overhaul the nation's health care system. In Oregon, insurance premium increases are forcing small businesses and individuals to join the growing ranks of the uninsured. The number of Oregonians covered by commercial insurance dropped by 88,000 between early 2008 and last summer, many of whom joined the estimated 614,000 residents already without insurance.
Read more:
http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2009/11/state_approves_every_health_in.html
Mirrors what's happening elsewhere. For a variety of reasons, states simply can't do the job.
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
