Anthem Rate Hikes Just Tip Of Iceberg - Premiums Going Way Up In Six More States

[cal04]

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/02/anthem-rate-hikes-just-tip-of-iceberg---premiums-going-way-up-in-six-more-states.php?ref=fpblg

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today will release a new report showing more dramatic health insurance premium increases are proposed in Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Oregon, Rhode Island and Washington.

Keying off the Obama administration's recent probe into a planned 39 percent rate hike from Anthem Blue Cross in California, Sebelius will detail large increases in six other states and say that given record insurer profits, health care reform has never been more urgent.

At 11:30 a.m. today, Sebelius will release the report, obtained by TPMDC and titled "Insurance Companies Prosper, Families Suffer: Our Broken Health Insurance System."

It finds that Anthem's rate increase (now delayed until May) is "not unique" and that experts say premiums will keep rising.



Obama team raises pressure on health insurers
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1715793920100218?type=marketsNews

Health Insurance Costs: 'Shocking' Premium Increases Coming, Says Health And Human Services Dept.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/18/health-insurance-costs-sh_n_466937.html

[Botany]

1. Hang this around the republican's necks this fall and we would pick up seats

protecting insurance company profits over the good of the American people ....
what nice guys.

[LiberalEsto]

2. This is the insurance industry's payback to us

for even daring to THINK about health care reform.