California Insurance Commissioner Asks Blue Cross, Aetna and PacifiCare(United) to Delay Premium Increases-HealthNet Increase Ok

HealthNet increases are said to average around 4% but actual increases for individuals will vary. HealthNet was slated to have met the 70% requirement for spending on healthcare as is the law in California as it stands today. Blue Shield’s proposed increases are the ones that seem to be the highest in California.

Blue Shield of California Announced Rate Hikes of Up to 59% For Some Individuals

Also as a side note, let’s not forget the revenues insurance companies make as being the Medicare contractors for processing claims and this was set up years ago due to the government pretty much lacking the Health IT systems to run it themselves are the prior administration was kind of IT illiterate and didn’t see this as a focus. If you remember 2 years ago when the new administration moved into the White House, they found computers still running Windows 98 and the Department of the Interior used to have it’s site go down quite frequently, weekly as I remember.

Medicare Contractor Gets Deal to Monitor Physician Incentive Payments–Same Folks Earlier This Week Admonished For Not Doing Enough for Fraud Prevention?

National Government Services, a subsidiary of Blue Cross was also awarded a contract to follow up on the physician's incentives for meeting meaningful use to ensure all qualify so they are in on that part of the deal too with software and algorithms to compute in that arena. This is just worth a mention to recognize some of the other avenues of revenue generation insurance companies have today other than just premium payments, which of course is a big one. BD

California's new insurance commissioner has expanded his inquiry into rate hikes by major insurers, calling on them to delay pending increases for 60 days while he examines paperwork submitted to his office.
Commissioner Dave Jones had already urged Blue Shield of California to refrain from raising rates for a third time in five months. The increases would drive up consumers' bills as much as 59% cumulatively.

State insurance officials said Health Net Inc. would face no further scrutiny for its own Jan. 1 increase. A review showed that the policies met the 70% requirement for spending on healthcare, an official said.

California insurance chief Dave Jones expands inquiry into healthcare rate hikes - latimes.com