Is Anthem gouging its customers?

I'm GLAD Anthem is doing this OUTRAGEOUS increase. I hope other health insurers follow. This will make the public so outraged that they will demand a re-write of the health care bill to include a goverment run public option that directly competes with private health insurance. This is THE way to control costs. The current bill does nothing to control costs and will force members of the public to buy these OUTRAGEOUSLY priced plans. Also, how much you wanna bet that if I were to sign up with Anthem I would not pay LESS after a year even if I proved that I go to the gym three times a week. Insurers are quick to charge you more for unhealthy habits but never offer rebates for health habits. Even AAA car insurance gives me a rebate each year if I am a good driver.

Our premium went up $300/month, about a 30% increase. My husband pays it through his small construction company. He will be taking a cut in pay to cover the new premium. This is money that we would normally be spending on things that would benefit the overall economy. Now the money will be going straight into the pockets of insurance executives. I don't believe that costs have gone up enough to justify this increase. We will keep the coverage, what choice do we have for out family?

When Anthem/BC wrote in Nov. that my individual plan would no longer be offered I choose to remain with the $2500 deductible. This week they wrote to inform me that plan would increase by $189/mo. SOOO I had to go with the $3500 deductible. They backed me into a corner and for most of us individual policyholders we have no where to turn!

This is a clear call for the public option.

Have you asked why Anthem is raising its premiums outrageously in view of its 8-fold increase in profits over the last quarter?

This causes a vicious cycle where healthier members will take their chances and drop coverage leaving sicker members who eventually will pay even higher premiums to cover the higher per member costs.

Just listening in, and affected by the large increase in rates by Anthem. Also, since I am a physician in the Southern California region, I was interested to hear how your guest mentioned that Anthem is getting higher rates for physician services. As a radiologist, from my experience in the last 2 years, our rates for physician services have decreased significantly....

I'm 60 and haven't worked in 2 years. I'm paying $500.00 a month and have a $5000.00 deductible. I have diabetes and asthma, and a few other things. Right now, I can't afford to see all the doctors I need to see, such as my gynecologist, and my eye doctor; I have cataracts and can't afford to get the surgery needed.

Talk about a death panel!

I am an Employee Benefits manager for a very large organization (5000 employees) and I can tell you that Insurance companies are partially to blame - However Hospitals share VERY large blame here. They practice a lot of cost shifting and are incredibly inefficient - all the uninsured or underinsured or low medical payments they shift the costs to the private health plans.

What happens is that insurance companies then end up paying more on there contracted rate due to cost shifting. Hospitals claim alot of 'poor me" but when you look at their financial results it does not bear this out.

Another problem is the fact that individuals are always asking their Dr's for non-generic medication and for the latest advertised medication - that makes the pharmaceutical costs at in some cases 500% more than it should cost.

So their is plenty of blame to go around - stop looking just at insurance companies

WellPoint/Anthem/BlueCross/BlueShield, etc: 1) They aren't paying doctors and hospitals a reasonable cost coverage--I worked with doctors for years trying to get reimbursed for already insurance-company approved and lower-price negotiated care that had been delivered--then the insurance company refused to pay. 2) Any Non-Profit that spends less than 85% on direct-program services is looked at askance. 3) SO--we have a problem in this country when we accept that a for-profit health-insurer can spend only 70% on direct care, can announce an 8-fold profit for its last quarter, and can pay out multi-million-dollar salaries AND still claim that it needs to raise its premiums years after year. Some things just shouldn't be "for profit" so long as we put no limits on how much profit a company can choose to reap from its customers.

I am one of the people "hit" by this. The customers that are not seeing the top increase are having their policies adjusted (deductibles are going up.)

2005-2006 increase 14.6%,
2006-2007 increase 15.6%,
2007-2008 increase 13.8%,
2008-2009 increase 17.1%,
2009-2010 increase 38.0%

It seems that they are either trying to drive away individual customers, or are trying to establish a much higher precedent for individual insurance, should they be required to offer plans to more people under pending federal legislation.

I may need to shut down my company and go work for a larger corporation with group insurance. Is allowing this how the state wants to encourage entrepreneurs?

Just like auto insurance there needs to be a good health discount for those who don't meet deductibles and don;t drain the system.
If these increases are necessary they should not be limited to individuals but should be shared by all policyholders including those fortunate enough to have their employer pay for them.
I am a freelance designer and a solo mama trying to support 2 children. I simply cannot afford this increase nor can I afford to pay for those with employee benefits nor those who have huge medical expenses.

Here is what the response to having Scott Brown get elected is in California. Hmmm! The GOP says let the Insurance companies regulate themselves and rates will go down.

The answer to this egregious action by our wonderfully greedy SOB corporations and the apathy of those who are (at current) unaffected is this unpardonable but expected increase. They see health care reform as dead and so, "LET'S PARTY!!"

Maybe we should all write a letter to the people in Massachusetts, who selfishly said we need no health care reform,

AND FLIP THEM THE PERVERBIAL FINGER!

Just the most egregious example of why for-profit health insurance should be illegal. It's profoundly immoral to make profits for shareholders on the misery of their sick subscribers. Take a look at Wellpoint Inc. (Anthem Blue Cross parent) recent last quarter profits--up a factor of eight! What a clarion call for dramatic structural changes to the system. Enough is enough.

I'm 60 and haven't worked in 2 years. I'm paying $500.00 a month and have a $5000.00 deductible. I have diabetes and asthma, and a few other things. Right now, I can't afford to see all the doctors I need to see, such as my gynecologist, and my eye doctor; I have cataracts and can't afford to get the surgery needed.

Talk about a death panel!
PS It is with Anthem Blue Cross

I am a self-employed woman (aargh - over 55) who has had Blue Cross (and Blue Shield) health converage for many, many years and I cannot remember a year in which my rates did not go up at least 25% over the prior year. A few years ago I started raising my deductibles in an effort to stem the tide, and three months ago I finally gave up and applied for coverage at Kaiser. Since I have not had any illnesses or injuries for decades they accepted me - so when my letter arrived from Blue Cross yesterday announcing an increase from $424/month (and that was with a $3500 deductible!) to $529/month I was able to finally thumb my nose at them! I still have their coverage for my teenage daughter, whose rates are still low enough that 25% - 40% doesn't hurt quite so much, but it's only a matter of time before I change that as well.

In spite of what the gentelman said this morning about health care costs increasing, they do not increase at the rate of 25%-40% from year to year and in any case, Blue Cross had stopped paying for many services and procedures which they covered in the past.

I hope you have an opportunity to speak to someone today who knows about the salaries and bonuses paid to health insurance executives.

Thank you!

I live with my mother who is retired and my brother, who just graduated from college and is looking for a job. Both my mother and brother have individual plans with Anthem. I'm financially the head of the household and the insurance increase is not good news for us, especially since I'm providing for the household with a non-profit salary.

My husband, my 9-year-old daughter and I have been purchasing individual coverage for the last 4 or 5 years. Last year, we were pleased to see a reduction in our bimonthly premiums. Around that time, there was a large increase in TV advertising, and a lot of mail coming from them, encouraging members not to drop their coverage. My husband and my 9-year-old also get junk mail from them several times a week, offering to send information on Medicare plans. We now want to know how much of this latest increase is going into lobbying and marketing expenses.

Also, I'd like to put it out there—how many individually insured members have recently seen Anthem Blue Cross go into "automatic-rejection mode" for legitimate claims?I hasve a pile elbow-deep on my desk of what I believe to be improper rejections.

What if everyone just dropped their insurance and put the money they'd pay in premiums into a personal savings account.

If the public stops supporting these egregious practices, they could not continue.

And then push for Single Payer, the only sane approach that works quite well in many other countries.

I just turned 50, I am self employed and have individual insurance (PPO) through Blue Sheild, currently I have a zero deductable. blue Shield has increased my insurce $200.00 in the past 6 months. I got hit with an increase in July of last year and now another 100.00 begining in March. I will be payint close to $600.00 just for myself. I am looking for a new policy, or I will have to go without insurance.

I was already in the plan with the $3,500 deductible, and I still saw a 36% increase. And I'm pretty much stuck with this because I have "pre-existing conditions" (i.e., I've had the nerve to actually seek medical care in the past) that will make it impossible to get a reasonable rate from another insurer.

I have been with blue cross individual plan for many years. I reduced my premium to $211 per month by having a $7500 premium. My option now is to lose prescription coverage and pay $243 per month or keep prescription coverage and pay $283 per month. I may have to drop my coverage or not pay other bills. My partner's insurance has already lapsed because we couldn't afford it. Whenever I heard the polls that people were satisfied with their insurance I was alway surprised. I don't know anyone who is happy with their insurance .

Nearly five years ago, I lost my job. And because my wife is self employed as a hair dresser, we had to move to an individual plan for the first time. I went back to school, got a second degree, then graduated as the recession was in full swing. I remain out of work and we have no choice but to get medical coverage through individual plans.

Both of us are super healthy, active cyclists, neither have ever smoked, done drugs and we barely drink. Our cholesterol, blood pressure, BMI, etc. are low. Yet, three years ago, two years into our first policy with Blue Cross, our rates went up more than $150 per month. something like 40-50% increases. Then Blue Cross of CA, raised our rates almost monthly. Despite the fact that neither of us had any issues. At the same time, we found it more and more difficult to get medical service as more doctors and dentists began dropping the plan.

We then began searching for a new policy. We had to get one for her, because she is younger than 40 and we wanted her to be covered incase of pregnancy and one for me because I am over 40. We also had to drop dental coverage due to the cost.

Our rates dropped to reasonable levels, but our coverage is spotty and we have had trouble getting paid for doctor visits such as mammograms. There was a 2-year freeze on increases, but six months before the freeze came to an end, we were informed our rates would go up. Now, this?

As it is, I visit a doctor once, maybe twice per year, one time for an annual physical. It would be faaaar cheaper for me to pay out of pocket every time I visited the doctor. The concern, of course is what happens if one of us gets really sick?

It's disgusting what these companies do. Great healthcare should be a right, not a privilege and it should be easy and affordable to get. The insanely high profits these companies make year after year while denying coverage (directly or indirectly by raising rates beyond what is fair and affordable for many) is unconscionable.

This is a huge racket and I am sure it has to do with issues way beyond ‘an increase in costs’. I already pay too much as an individual with a major deductible plan. I am in my 40's and perfectly healthy and my rates are about to go up an extra $75 per month! Eight years ago I was paying $105 and now they want me to pay $363 for the same plan.

Why is this only happening to individual plan holders - if there are 800,000 of us why can we not get the same rates as a 'group'?

I am researching new plans with other insurers and significantly lower costs (at least $150 less per month) and will be crossing my fingers that I am not denied for some crazy reason. I sure liked the sound of single payer plans and a public option – go congress go, we seriously need to make this happen!

I am a self-employed graphic design whose business has been severely affected by the economic downturn. Yesterday I received notification that Anthem will raise my rate by 30%. I've already moved my deductible up to $3,500. What is the logical end to this paradim? People being forced to drop coverage and just go to emergency rooms when they need service? People loosing their homes? This is simply unsustainable.

Why doesn't KPPC and Larry Mantel ask Anthem (or the insurance company mouthpiece he's currently interviewing) how these increases can be justified in light of Wellpoint's (Anthem's parent company) 8-fold increase in profits last year?

All this points to the necessity of true reform in our health care system. Perhaps we should require health insurance providers to be run as non-profits!

After 18 months on Cobra that plan terminated in January so I converted to a Blue Shield Individual Guaranteed Plan covering pre-existing conditions (available under HIPAA only after completion of the 18 month Cobra plan). I was very thankful to have that option although the policy is more expensive with much higher co-pay.

However since Blue Shield often follows Anthem Blue Cross my bet is that I will be seeing a rate increase from Blue Shield in the near future. We definitely need health insurance reform...how can anyone think otherwise.

For the record here, our family has also been backed into a corner by Anthem. We have been paying $1230/month for our family of three and now they are asking for $1661/month, a $430 increase. This is triple the increase from last year. We just bought our first home, with careful financing, but did not expect to incur this kind of cost for health insurance. So we are stuck. We have pre-existing conditions which means we cannot transfer to another company. So what are we to do? Demand for health reform...but in the meantime?

I am in my late 50's. My son recently went to college and is now issured there. My premiums have increased over the last 3 years by 50%, 50% and 39% with my Anthem Blue Cross individual coverage for my wife and myself. This is like a hamburger costing $10 in 2007 costing $29.19 in March of 2010. I called Anthem and they are explaining the increases as passing on the increases to them by their providers. Frankly, it is not believable. As a giant purchaser of services they would not tollerate these rates of increases by their providers - they would simply drop the providers. I have seen them drop providers in the past. I rarely use my medical insurance and since I have a $5,000 deductable for myself and $5,000 for my wife Anthem pays out nothing annually for us. I believe this is Anthem's way of pushing out those members who they believe are in age groups statistically requiring more medical care. I am currently out shopping for a new provider. Apart from Anthem's premium increases, almost every request for preauthorization of procedures requires multiple calls and is often denied. Why don't the commercials reflect a real picture of Anthem's services, the they provide and their concern about their members? The commercials tell one story and reality another.

I am a self employed piano teacher. Anthem has been raising my rates at very high percentages over the past few years. This recent rate hike is the worst.
I will now have to explore other options..look for another job with benefits? Kaiser?..neither of which are attractive, especially when I love my work. This is completely outrageous considering the 8-fold profits of the company last quarter.

This really is only the beginning. Americans will eventually wake up but by that time it will be too late. What a sad state of affairs. Like thousands of others I recently lost my job and my health care and now depend on the emergency ward of the hospital to take care of my health issues, which will end up being paid by those with health care.

The insurance companies raise individual policy rates BECAUSE THEY CAN. They've been gouging individuals for years. We don't have bargaining power, we're vulnerable and we need what they're selling. If you do go shopping for a new policy it's a shell game, with some policies limiting this, others that. Making a level comparison is almost impossible. And that's before the hell of underwriting. They have us over a barrel and they know it. Our family of 4 pays $700 a month with a deductible of $5000 (each). We pay for the policy, then pay ALL the bills too. This is appalling. The healthcare system is badly broken and crippling our economy. It MUST BE REFORMED!

I have been saying for years to anyone that would listen that the insurance system was beyond fixing and morally reprehensible for the burden they placed on us self-employed folks. It has felt like I was screaming down a hole because I rarely found others who shared my opinion. Now I understand. The percentages of individual insurance customers (10%) to those on group plans or receive insurance through their work explains why I have felt like such minority. I wish I could get my family on a group plan but because of pre-existing conditions for both me and my partner we have no where to turn. With this increase we will be spending close to the cost of our mortgage for health insurance... with more increases to come. It makes one seriously think of moving to Canada....or France.....or heaven forbid... Cuba!

Has anyone asked at what point will Health Care be so expensive that only the rich will be able to afford it? Costs are not ever going to go down, only up. Just wait and see what it's like in a few years, people will be in the streets protesting and will only have themselves to blame for letting Health Care get to such a deep unsolvable crisis.

I am a freelance designer and have been paying for my own health insurance for close to 10 years. All of that with Blue Cross or Blue Shield. I have become used to small rate increases over all these years. Maybe 4-8 times a year i would get a small rate increase, a couple dollars here and there. Once it even went down by a few dollars! Up until last month, I was paying $130/month. I just received notice that my premium will be increasing 30% up to $170/month! This is unacceptable. One of the things that i havent heard mentioned yet, is that while the insurance premiums have been steadily increasing, my actual coverage keeps shrinking. I get notices every so often that this or that hospital is no longer IN NETWORK. Lab fees USED to be covered, now if i go to the doctor with a strep throat and need a culture, or even if i want to do a preventative blood lab workup, i NOW have to pay for these labs 100%. 2 years ago these labs used to be free. I also have a small dental plan...a year ago i was getting a $39 credit to my dental bill of $105. Last month i went to get my teeth cleaned, the bill was still $105 from the dentist, but my insurance is now only paying for $15 of that! HOW IS IT POSSIBLE THAT THEY CAN KEEP INCREASING THEIR RATES, BUT AT THE SAME TIME KEEP DECREASING MY COVERAGE?! THIS IS A COMPLETE OUTRAGE! I wouldnt mind so much paying the increase IF MY PLAN STAYED THE SAME! Then they send you this 40 page document to read with half of it crossed out! This is not CUSTOMER SERVCEI! IT'S CUSTOMER DISSERVICE AND DISSATISFACTION! I am a healthy male in his late 30s who does not smoke or drink or do drugs or have any pre-existing conditions. I am now forced to get back into the market and look for another plan. As much as i would love to choose another company, these crooks are the only company out there to choose from that offers a decent plan. The whole political climate surrounding this is so complicated, I cant even keep up. I just want the two parties to cooperate and get on the same page to help ease the people from this mess. As a dual citizen, the EU option is looking better every day!

And we don't need a public option? Actually we need a single payer system like the Canadian system. I spend 3 months a year on the Canadian border and know many who love there healthcare system. But, just keep listening to the Libaughs, Becks, Hannitys and Fox News of this world and we will get the healthcare we deserve.

The public option only trades one problem for another. Government programs have proven time and again to be well-intentioned boondoggles that cost more to provide less.

When a company starts throwing it's weight around like Anthem is, it is usually because the market has been too highly regulated (as the commentator said, health insurance is among the most regulated industries). Since Anthem has such a position, it can influence through lobbying efforts what regulations get passed. Since they have a say in the process, their competitors, especially smaller companies, are left to deal with regulations that hinder their business, leading them to suffer and either merge or close.

The answer is to remove regulations, so that competitors can compete more fairly and on an even playing field. Open competition across state lines, and we'll see Anthem lower their premiums as fast as possible.

I have Anthem Blue Cross, and already pay $600 a month for coverage. With my husband currently out of work, I simply cannot afford an increase. I have a pre-existing condition, and I am terrified because no other insurace will take me on at this point. I am not left with any options. This rate hike is endagering the lives of thousands of people.

hey this is great! Anthem is screwing us, we're all complaining, and the result is. .. bupkus!

Larry's show today focused upon” Individual” rate increases and failed to mention that “Group” rates were also increased significantly. I just received my rate increase notice from my employer today, stating that our group rates will be increased by 19 percent. If I understood details about the number of individuals affected by the increases at 800,000, and that Blue Cross holds 65-70% of California's market share, then the number of people actually affected by the increased rates must be several million people. I fully understand that the health insurance industry has abundant political clout, but enough is enough!! We Californian's must stand up to this once and for all and not let one entity control such a significant aspect of our daily lives. Doesn't anyone think that its a little strange that this rate increase announcement was made immediately following the Scott Brown nomination, and made to affect more people in any other state, and coincidently, it was made in a state which is near the top of list in most unemployed, highest mortgage defaults, and highest cost of living? Yes Anthem, we do see through your BS. It's almost a laughable tactic. I encourage everyone to bombard your local, state and federal representatives and keep bombarding with complaints for a calls to action until something is done about this. WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE, BUT MUST STAND AS ONE.