Obama tells insurer to reverse rate hike – Washington Times.
Up front, you should know that insurers don’t have to do what Kathleen Sebelius says, but are expected to publicly justify the increases on healthcare.gov. The Everence report is posted HERE, and mentions that the increase is in response to three years of posting loses on that group of insurance offerings.
Health and Human Services, which can’t do math, is saying that the Everence Insurance company is using national data rather than Pennsylvania data to predict losses. The company has jacked rates on small group plans affecting about 5000 people.
Why are insurers raising their rates? With the economy failing, the healthiest people are the most likely to trim health care insurance from their expenses. This leaves the less healthy ones, who know they have to keep coverage, still on board. Less income, more costs.
We don’t need the government to control and ruin the health insurance industry. If those affected small groups hate the Everence increase a lot, they’ll shop for cheaper plans. Under the guise of regulating prices, the government is working to kill insurance companies, and force us into a one provider system.
