Mass. Premiums Rising

[Crabcake Johnny]

State has health company hearings - BostonHerald.com

"By Sullivan's calculations, the typical Massachusetts family now pays $20,000 a year for health insurance.

With the state requiring that all residents have insurance, something, somewhere has to give, said Sullivan, who has been urging state officials to investigate what he calls "anti-competitive" behavior by the insurers.

"This is an emergency situation," Sullivan said. "Premiums are rising so fast that government has to intervene.""


And this gem:

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2009/11/15/blue_cross_rates_for_small_businesses_to_surge/


"Bob Carroll, owner of a Billerica distributor of paint spraying equipment, recently got some really bad news from Blue Cross-Blue Shield: His company's health insurance rates are going up 47 percent in January."

 

[somarco]

Not to worry. Obama money will flow like water to save the day.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

Watch for this to implode in Mass. within the next 3 years and they'll have no choice but to take away the mandate.

 

[Winter_123]

Watch for this to implode in Mass. within the next 3 years and they'll have no choice but to take away the mandate.

It will be gone anyway within 3 years. All of the these failed states are looking to dump it all over on to the fed program. Doesnt mean it wont be a mess then because it will, but state officials and the libs who created these programs just want out now. In Maine, they will cheer for the fed program and then transition everything over to that (with or without public option, doesnt matter) and then declare victory as far as being a leader in health care reform. Just the way politics works.

 

[somarco]

"Premiums are rising so fast that government has to intervene."

And do what? Price controls on medical providers?

The article states emphatically that premiums are tied to rising health care costs. Several places speak of 90% of premiums going back to providers. Somehow that point is missed by most in the lame-stream media and public.

Cut premiums dramatically in two ways.

Eliminate mandates which add 20 - 30% to premiums and in GI states it adds much more than 30%.

Eliminate copays and low deductibles. This forces policyholders to become educated health care buyers while simultaneously lower premiums.

If mandates were eliminated and no one could buy a copay plan and nothing less than a $2500 deductible premiums would drop 30 - 40% overnight.

Put everyone with a BMI of 30 or greater on the Worlds Greatest Loser. That could reverse or avoid half the cost of treating chronic conditions like high blood pressure and type II diabetes.

We don't need more government intervention, just a sane and workable approach.

 

[HM-agent]

"This is an emergency situation," Sullivan said. "Premiums are rising so fast that government has to intervene.""


The govt did intervene with GI and the more mandates than most states and this is the result.

This is great for my biz as I work with self funding in the small to medium sized group market in Mass.

 

[somarco]

FL group was messed up a few years ago prompting a lot of employers to go self funded. Most stop loss carriers would write 25 lives and up. At least one went down to 10 lives.

Really hard to make the numbers work on a 10 life group. I had some in the 25 - 49 that understood the concept and it worked well for them. Had others that never really got it.

 

[HM-agent]

It'll work for the perfect group in the 10-15 range and the plan design has to be very creative.

The major benefit is the removal of some of the Mass Mandates. Invitro is a mandated benefit. Just by removing that coverage the premium can drop pretty significantly.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

Extremely interesting to me that Mass. is an exact example of what the White House wants to accomplish but they never reference them as an example.

Mass.
*Coverage mandated by law
*Tax penalty if they don't comply
*Benefits and OOP dictated by the state gov't

Again, this almost an exact match of what the House just passed and what Obama wants yet there is NO mention of Mass. as a shining example of what works.

Actually, the last thing the White House wants is everyone digging into what's going on over there.

 

[InsureGuy5]

No surprise here. Govt intervention is not the answer. People need to get their minds around health care reform - not health insurance reform.