Insurance Compaines React From Fear of Government

This is just another result of ObamaCare and the 30 million new customers that will arrive for free health care. It's called - fear - fear that this influx of new patients will swamp the system and leave the insurance companies holding the bag while the government sails away scott free - as they intended all along.

Destroy the insurance companies and then force the taxpayers to pay the entire bill when the system is completely under the control of the government of progressive elite Democrats.

Fear is a great motivator for all kinds of unintended consequences and is the main 'stick' that the Obama administration uses to take over the country. Who voted for this last November?

Health Insurers Raise Some Rates by Double Digits, Despite New Health Law
January 15, 2013
Source: Reed Abelson, "Health Insurers Raise Some Rates by Double Digits, Despite New Health Law," New York Times, January 5, 2013.

Health insurance companies across the country are seeking and winning double-digit increases in premiums for some customers, even though one of the biggest objectives of the Obama administration's health care law was to stem the rapid rise in insurance costs for consumers.

Particularly vulnerable to the high rates are small businesses and people who do not have employer-provided insurance and must buy it on their own, says the New York Times.

• In California, Aetna is proposing rate increases of as much as 22 percent, Anthem Blue Cross 26 percent and Blue Shield of California 20 percent for some of those policy holders, according to the insurers' filings with the state for 2013.
• These rate requests are all the more striking after a 39 percent rise sought by Anthem Blue Cross in 2010 helped give impetus to the law, known as the Affordable Care Act, which was passed the same year and will not be fully in effect until 2014.
• In other states, like Florida and Ohio, insurers have been able to raise rates by at least 20 percent for some policy holders.
• The proposed increases compare with about 4 percent for families with employer-based policies.

The double-digit requests in some states are being made despite evidence that overall health care costs appear to have slowed in recent years. PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates that costs may increase just 7.5 percent next year, well below the rate increases being sought by some insurers.

But the companies counter that medical costs for some policy holders are rising much faster than the average, suggesting they are in a sicker population. Federal regulators contend that premiums would be higher still without the law, which also sets limits on profits and administrative costs and provides for rebates if insurers exceed those limits.

Some consumer advocates and policy experts say the insurers may be increasing rates for fear of charging too little, and they may be less afraid of having to refund some of the money than risk losing money.