On Monday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius asked California’s largest for profit health insurance provider, Anthem Blue Cross, to send a letter detailing what she termed an “extraordinary” rate hike proposed for California customers. Blue Cross is owned by parent company Well Point, Inc. According to the report by ABC News, Well Point saw a profit in the final quarter of last year of $2.7 billion.
ABC reports similar hikes are taking place nationwide, although California’s appears to be the most extreme. For example, last month Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield filed for a 23 percent rate hike on more than 11,000 individual policies in Maine. In November, Oregonians holding individual policies with Health Net Health Plan of Oregon also faced a nearly 23 percent hike.
In a statement reported by ABC, Anthem Blue Cross of California blamed the unstable economy and rising health care costs for the rate hike, while pledging to reply to Sebelius’s concerns promptly. The rate hike “highlights why we need sustainable health care reform to manage the steadily rising costs of hospitals, drugs and doctors,” a statement by the company said.
The proposed rate hike of up to 39 percent could affect as many as 800,000 Californians.
Related Resources:
- HHS Secretary Asks Insurer to Justify Rate Hike (ABC News)
- Health Insurance and Benefits: Your Rights (FindLaw)
- Getting the Most From Your Health Insurance (FindLaw)
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