Health insurance hikes stun small businesses [View All]

[andym]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

While Anthem Blue Cross has been taking the heat for proposing rate increases of up to 39 percent on individual consumers, other health insurers have stunned some small businesses with hikes that in some cases exceed 75 percent.

Tom Simmons, president of an Oakland design and consulting firm with four employees, said he had just read about the Anthem increases when he opened a letter from his insurer, Blue Shield of California, informing him his monthly family premium would go up to $1,596 a month from $908, a nearly 76 percent increase.

"This industry is getting out of control. It makes me fearful of future years and what could become of things if something doesn't change," said Simmons, whose business health insurance policy also covers his family of three.

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Meanwhile, businesses in the small-group market - those with fewer than 50 employees - are reeling from the latest spikes in their health rates. Those who reported the highest rate increases appeared to have a high deductible Blue Shield policy paired with a savings account.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/02/25/MNLV1C78RH.DTL

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Small group health insurance rates are even more out of control than individual policies in California. Note that Blue Shield of CA is actually a non-profit. Why do they need a 76% rate increase? Are medical costs really going up that fast?
And if they are going up so fast, why?