SPN media alert: Today's front page SF Chronicle story on health insurance rate increases in 7 states; NY Times editorials; NPR story; and today's radio media roundtable on KALW 91.7 fm at 11 am. -Artdetails:Insurance rate hikes attract federal scrutiny
Victoria Colliver, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, February 19, 2010
excerpts:
Dramatic increases in health insurance rates aren't limited to California, according to a report issued Thursday by the Obama administration that found insurers had asked for large rate hikes in at least six other states...Rate increases as high as 39 percent for individual Anthem Blue Cross subscribers in California prompted the administration to look into rates in other states. The increases applied to as many as 700,000 Anthem customers who buy policies on their own as opposed to being covered through as employer plan.
-------------------------SF Chronicle letters to the editor: www.sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1----------------------------Paul Krugman's NY Times column today: "California Death Spiral",excerpt:Health insurance premiums are surging — and conservatives fear that the spectacle will reinvigorate the push for reform. On the Fox Business Network, a host chided a vice president of WellPoint, which has told California customers to expect huge rate increases: "You handed the politicians red meat at a time when health care is being discussed. You gave it to them!"
Indeed. Sky-high rate increases make a powerful case for action. And they show, in particular, that we need comprehensive, guaranteed coverage...----------------------------NY Times Editorial: "The Lesson of Anthem Blue Cross"excerpt:If the increases go through in California, where regulators have limited powers to control rates, Anthem's enrollees would have to choose between paying the higher price, moving to lower-cost policies, perhaps with a high deductible, switching to another insurer if they can find one to take them, or dropping coverage entirely.
The nation's largest health insurers reported substantial profits last year over all, but Anthem claims it lost money on the individual market in California. Its parent company, WellPoint Inc., attributed the need for the huge rate increase to a changing mix of customers as the recession forces many people to cut back on expenses.
The company says that healthier customers, gambling that they won't need much care, are disproportionately dropping Anthem coverage or choosing not to enroll. The less healthy are staying with Anthem, where their higher medical costs are driving up premiums.
WellPoint will be asked to justify the increases at hearings in Congress and the State Legislature. California's insurance commissioner is investigating whether Anthem will be meeting regulations to spend at least 70 percent of its premium revenues on claims.
It's hard to know which conclusion would be worse: that Anthem is trying to fleece its individual customers or that Anthem's rates are actuarially justified by its increasingly unhealthy enrollment pool.
----------------------------New York Times letters to the editor: http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/lettertoeditor.html----------------------------NPR's "Morning Edition": an expose of a Health Savings Account scam (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123274765)Missing Health Savings Accounts Money Raises Questions
[4 min 12 sec]by Jeff Brady----------------------------"Your Call" radio show on KALW at 11 am today: the media roundtable.As they say on the "Your Call" radio show's website: "...send us an email at feedback@yourcallradio.org? Where did you see the best reporting this week?" Maybe you want to mention the string of stories by the SF Chronicle's Victoria Colliver this week (and last), about the Anthem/Blue Cross (and other health insurance companies) huge rate increases and the reaction to it in media (e.g. today's NY Times column by Paul Krugman ("California Death Spiral", see above; and their editorial"The Lesson of Anthem Blue Cross") and Mark Leno's great editorial on Tuesday) and the political reaction to this story. And you could mention the "single payer sidewalk summit" planned in SF--(Thursday, February 25, 10 am in front of the new federal building on 7th Street between Market and Mission. For more information: Don Bechler, 415-810-5826)-- along with those in other cities around the country, to go along with the main sidewalk summit in Washington DC.
Friday, February 19, 2010
via SPN - Bunch of important stuff in SF Chronicle re Healthcare Reform/letters to editor, etc.
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