Health insurance execs plead case for rate hikes : post-gazette

As it stated in post-gazette

Health insurance execs plead case for rate hikes

Health insurance execs plead case for rate hikes

HARRISBURG — Health insurance companies made the case for double-digit rate increases next year for individual policies in Pennsylvania at a regulatory hearing Wednesday.The requests before the Insurance Department include proposed average rate increases ranging from 17.2 percent for Aetna Health Inc., 25.4 percent to 48.1 percent for Highmark companies, 0.9 percent to 16.2 percent for UPMC companies, and 19.9 percent to 22.5 percent for Independence Blue Cross companies, according to the department.Insurance Commissioner Teresa Miller described the proposed rate increases as large but said they are not unique to Pennsylvania.


by the same token on redding

Health insurance hikes could hit California hard

Health insurance hikes could hit California hard

The announcement this week by Covered California that the statewide premium increase for Obamacare will be 13.2 percent, up from approximately 4 percent in each of the past two years, signals that the "honeymoon" period is over for government-run health care in California and elsewhere.The precise impact of the fiscal hit posed by the premium increases is difficult to pinpoint at this early stage, but there is no question that the state's exposure to significant increases in Obamacare-driven health care expenditures will increase dramatically over the next few years.Total costs for Obamacare in California are staggering, which means that any tweak to the program by the federal government could immediately expose the state to billions, or even tens of billions of dollars in increased costs unless corrective action is taken.


moreover from sacbee

Health insurance mergers that are too big not to fail

Health insurance mergers that are too big not to fail

Justice Department is right to try to block Anthem-Cigna and Aetna-Humana mergersPressure to match provider consolidation is high, but upside for consumers is unprovenIn California, Anthem merger alone would let one insurer control market in nearly half the state