Study: Premiums for Medicare drug plans jumping 8.7%

[rodeodance]

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/2007-09-28-medicare-drugs_N.htm?csp=34

Updated 2d 21h ago
Study: Premiums for Medicare drug plans jumping 8.7%


By Julie Appleby, USA TODAY
Many seniors and the disabled enrolled in the Medicare drug program are likely to pay more next year, with the average premium for all stand-alone drug plans rising 8.7% to $40 a month, according to data released late Thursday by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

"Plans that are popular are raising prices because they understand that seniors are not interested in switching.(carriers)," says Dan Mendelson, president of Avalere Health, a private research firm that analyzed the Medicare data.

The Avalere analysis also found:

• Most of the plans with the largest enrollment will increase their monthly premiums next year $5 to $10 a month. The average cost this year for all stand-alone drug plans was $36.81.

• The insurer with the largest market share, UnitedHealth, which offers a plan in conjunction with AARP, raised its prices about $5 a month to average $32. That move put it over a cost limit for so-called "dual eligibles" — those who qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid because they are low-income —in 18 out of 34 regions nationally. As a result, about 650,000 dual-eligible enrollees now in United plans will be switched to other carriers.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: United | Medicare

• Nationwide, 1.6 million people in United and other insurance carriers' plans who qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid will be automatically reassigned from United and other health plans to new carriers.

[jmp]

1. kick (nm)

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[Auntie Bush]

2. This whole HEALTH INSURANCE industry SUCKS.