Blue Shield's cumulative health insurance rate rehikes could ach 86.5% !

[Better Believe It]

Blue Shield's cumulative rate hikes could reach 86.5%
By Duke Helfand, Los Angeles Times
March 12, 2011

Higher insurance premiums sought by Blue Shield of California in recent months would drive total increases as high as 86.5% for thousands of individual policyholders, new documents show.

The higher cumulative increases, once thought to be as much as 59%, were reported to Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones this week as part of Blue Shield's explanation of its plans to raise rates in May.

Blue Shield already increased rates in October and January. If its third planned increase is allowed to take effect May 1, as expected, the San Francisco nonprofit said, 45,500 customers out of 193,800 will face cumulative hikes of 50% or more. Nine hundred will see their bills rise 80% or more.

"There's no question that rate increases of this magnitude will have a significant negative financial impact" on policyholders, said Jones, who renewed his call for a state law to give the insurance commissioner authority to deny excessive rate hikes.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-blue-shield-20110312,0,2694903.story

[xchrom]

1. recommend

[Frustratedlady]

2. They should be put out of business.

They are like the too big to fail banks. They are just pulling this to pay Obama back for healthcare reform.

This is a heartless, vile company. I don't know when they changed, but they didn't use to be this way.

I wonder what their bonuses will be, now?

[DCKit]

3. The successful parasite doesn't kill its host. At least, not all at once. nt

[emilyg]

4. I was so happy to get

rid of Blue Cross. Switched to AARP and very happy with them.

[subterranean]

5. Well, somebody's gotta pay for those million $ executive bonuses.

[HereSince1628]

6. If feel so much better knowing it's profit seekers on those death panels.

NOT.

[Vinnie From Indy]

7. Americans are just going to have to realize that the CEO's and others that are "part of the club"

absolutely need their two vacation homes, yachts, private planes and country club memberships to survive. If that means that folks have to die because they have no access to healthcare, so be it!