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News Release
4/4/2012
Posted by Carmen Balber
Santa Monica, CA -- Four of the largest health insurance companies in California have increased premiums for 1.1 million Californians and small business owners by as much as 20% on April and May 1st according to data filed with state regulators, said Consumer Watchdog Campaign today. The rate increases are the second or third for most...
News Story
3/31/2012
Posted by Mark Reback
More than a million California small-business owners and individual policyholders face a wave of health insurance premium increases in the coming months that range from single digits to as high as 20 percent.
Starting Sunday, about 101,000 Anthem Blue Cross small-group customers will see their premiums go up an average of 13.8 percent but as...
News Story
3/21/2012
Posted by Carmen Balber
The state's largest for-profit health insurer will raise rates 8.2% on average, down from its earlier request of 10.4%, in response to pressure from state officials.
Anthem Blue Cross agreed to trim its rate increases for nearly 600,000 customers in California in response to pressure from state officials, but many families still could see...
News Story
3/15/2012
Posted by Mark Reback
Prepared To Do Battle Against Premium Regulation
California's provider and payer communities lined up this week against a proposed ballot measure for the November election that would provide the California Insurance Commissioner new powers to regulate health insurance premiums.
The California Medical Association, California Hospital...
News Story
3/13/2012
Posted by Mark Reback
A coalition of insurers, doctors and hospitals opposes a proposed initiative.
California's doctors, hospitals and insurance companies have launched a united campaign against a proposed ballot measure seeking tighter regulation of health insurance rates, and proponents returned fire.
The proposed ballot initiative seeks to give the...
News Story
3/12/2012
Posted by Mark Reback
An impressive array of trade groups representing business owners, doctors, hospitals, health plans and health insurers launched a campaign Monday to oppose a health insurance rate regulation initiative proposed for the November ballot.
Major funding for the effort comes from the four largest health insurers in the state: Anthem Blue Cross,...
News Story
3/2/2012
Posted by Mark Reback
If my family's small local business was a health insurance company, we could double prices during a deep recession while amassing a fortune in invested savings. Woohoo!
As the customer base fell, we'd just jack up prices again. It's a laughably impossible model for almost any business. But not for Blue Cross, Blue Shield and their...
News Release
2/29/2012
Posted by Carmen Balber
Santa Monica, CA – Blue Shield has $3.1 billion in excess surplus, 1400% more than the state requires, yet still plans to raise rates up to 14.8% for 320,000 California patients on March 1st. Repeated rate hikes in the face of massive company surpluses at the same time that inflation slows show the need for a ballot initiative to prevent...
News Story
2/23/2012
Posted by Mark Reback
The proposed premium hikes for hundreds of thousands of California consumers with individual coverage would outpace the cost of overall medical care, which has risen just 3.6% in the last year.
California's largest health insurers are raising average rates by about 8% to 14% for hundreds of thousands of consumers with individual coverage,...
Blog Post
12/13/2011
Posted by Judy Dugan
When I first noticed the ad below while hunting for cookie recipes, I was surprised to see a health insurance company buying a full page in the first pages of a cooking magazine. But reading it was another surprise. The headline touts "Free Annual Checkups," and the text of the Anthem Blue Cross ad takes credit for this brand-new...
