Health insurer LifeWise to raise rates by 22.5 percent

The rate increases begin...BD

Health insurer LifeWise to raise rates by 22.5 percent By Kyung M. Song Seattle Times health reporter LifeWise Health Plan of Washington announced Thursday that premiums for its 90,000 individual health-care policies will rise by 22.5 percent Jan. 1 because of an anticipated jump in medical claims next year. LifeWise, a nonprofit subsidiary of Mountlake Terrace-based Premera Blue Cross, is one of the state's largest insurers for individual health plans. LifeWise said it expects to pay out $27 million more in medical bills in 2008. Three-quarters of that is the result of price inflation for medical services and drugs and an increase in the frequency of medical visits, said Mark Stuart, a Premera spokesman. The remaining 25 percent stems from a shift to more expensive technology such as advanced imaging equipment, he said.

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