Monthly Archives: August 2010

Wellpoint Allowed to Hike Insurance Rates in California

Published: August 27, 2010 in Uncategorized | Comments closed

Earlier this week, The California Department of Insurance announced that it wouldn't stand in the way of Wellpoint raising premiums for its customers. This from an article in The Sacramento Bee entitled, "California won't block individual health care rate hikes". This news paves the way for Anthem Blue Cross as well as their competitor, Blue Shield of California, raise rates around fourteen to eighteen percent on average for most customers.

Insurance Commissioners Try to Define What Constitutes Medical Care

Published: August 20, 2010 in Health In Politics, Health Reform | Comments closed

In a follow up to last week's story on a gathering of Insurance Commissioners meeting in Seattle to determine what constitutes "medical care," the same media outlet as last time, The Palm Beach Post, has a story entitled, "Patients win first round: Define health care costs with emphasis on care, not profit." The commissioners filled out the guidelines in the form of "blanks," which are documents that insurers must file listing all of their expenses so the government can determine the companies' medical loss ratio. If you recall, the MLR is the portion of money that goes to patient care rather than administrative costs and salaries.

How Does One Define Medical Care?

Published: August 13, 2010 in Uncategorized | Comments closed

The Affordable Care Act -- the new health care legislation signed by President Obama back in March -- is supposed to help trim costs, make the system more efficient and help save money for consumers and companies. One provision of the law, which takes place next year, says health insurers must spend eighty to eighty five percent of consumers' premiums on medical care, instead of things like CEO salaries, administrative costs and so on. However, what, exactly, constitutes "medical care"?

Repealing Health Care Reform Disastrous in Terms of Administrative Costs

Published: August 6, 2010 in Health In Politics, Health Insurance Costs, Health Reform | Comments closed

Opponents to the recent health care reform are getting more and more vocal, especially given the recent vote in Missouri in which their voters rejected the reforms. However, in an article from the Center for American Progress entitled, "Repealing Health Reform Would Mean Billions More in Administrative Costs", they try to remind opponents as to one of the other big facets of the health care reform bill...efficiency.