Colorado insurance commissioner points finger at Trump administration for massive rate hikes

denver colorado health insurance

Marguerite Salazar says that uncertainty generated by the president led to the 27 percent rate hike requests. Colorado Insurance Commissioner Marguerite Salazar’s department received requests for 27 percent rate hikes in the individual market and 7.3 percent for small group. The commissioner is not happy and blames the Trump administration for the uncertainty they’ve created within the market. Salazar said the games played by the Trump administration have caused the health insurance market to become unstable. The result of these actions, said the Colorado insurance commissioner, was huge 2018 rate…

Read More

Anthem health insurance policies with reduced coverage receive approval

california Anthem health insurance

A judge has given the nod to allow the insurer to move forward with a plan offering no out of network care coverage. Anthem health insurance has been allowed to continue selling a California health plan that doesn’t offer out of network care coverage. A judge gave the ruling that stopped Anthem Blue Cross from being restrained from switching half a million Californians to the plan. A consumer group requested that the judge keep a restraining order in place to stop Anthem from making the switches. The restraint would have…

Read More

Americans are shopping outside health insurance exchanges for coverage

Group Health Insurance Exchanges

Millions of people are buying health plans off the marketplaces to avoid massive rate hikes. As premiums are headed skyward at many health insurance exchanges, people are looking for alternatives. Many Americans have decided to stop shopping in those official markets. Instead, they are purchasing health plans through insurance companies off the exchanges. The purpose is to try to avoid being faced with the rate hikes that are often in the double digits. The Obama administration is working to reverse this trend. The goal is to make health insurance exchanges…

Read More

Health insurance policies aren’t stopping people from using the ER

emergency health insurance policies medical technology

Among the predicted benefits of the Affordable Care Act was that people would stop using this last resort care. When the Affordable Care Act went into effect, one of the advantages was supposed to be that health insurance policies would reduce the use of hospital emergency rooms. That said, despite the fact that many millions of people are now covered, they’re still headed to the ER. This is problematic as emergency room medical care is among the most expensive types of health care. The belief was that because people would…

Read More

Will higher health insurance rates keep insurers in the exchanges?

health insurance rates

Regulators across the country are allowing insurance companies to make health plans more expensive. State regulators across the nation have been steadily giving the nod to increased health insurance rates. In fact, many have made it possible for those insurers to raise premiums more than the companies had requested. This may appear to be in opposition to the goal of keeping rates as low as possible for consumers. However, a data analysis conducted by USA TODAY suggested a different purpose for these decisions. The national newspaper indicated that the regulators…

Read More