Public policy professor Robert Reich, who lives and teaches in California, has so far managed to escape the 39% premium jump of Anthem Blue Cross. Lucky Reich, but he's not feeling secure.
The trend worries me, as it should everyone. Rates are soaring all over the country. Insurers have been seeking to raise premiums 24 percent in Connecticut, 23 percent in Maine, 20 percent in Oregon and a wallet-popping 56 percent in Michigan. How can insurers raise prices as much as they want without fear of losing customers?
Health insurers are like poisonous snakes in our grass that are also a Republican/capitalist form of protected wildlife. You can't kill 'em and you can't stop 'em from killing you.
The health insurance industry is exempt from federal antitrust laws, which is why a handful of insurers have become so dominant in their markets that their customers simply have nowhere else to go.
Fortunately, that's one protected species the Obama administration is about to unprotect.
President Obama on Tuesday announced his support of a House bill that would repeal health insurers’ antitrust exemption, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi signaled that she would put it toward an immediate vote.This is promising news. Forcing insurers to compete for our business would do at least as much good as the president’s proposal to give the federal government, working with the states, the power to deny or roll back excessive premiums. ...
... Antitrust is no substitute for broader health care reform, but it’s an important prerequisite. If a handful of giant health insurers are allowed to dominate the industry, many of the other aspects of reform (establishing insurance exchanges, requiring people to have insurance, even allowing consumers to buy insurance across state lines) won’t bring down the price of insurance.
If any part of you is saying, aw, gee, the poor health care insurers have high costs and deserve a break, take a look at what they pulled in last year when the whole country (world!) was in deep recession.
...Big health insurers are making boatloads of money. America’s five largest health insurers made a total profit of $12.2 billion last year; that was 56 percent higher than in 2008.
