The recently announced 26 percent rate increase by Oregon’s largest health insurer certainly qualifies as a harbinger of things beginning to go wrong: The cost of medical coverage has become dangerously high. But the sacrificial role of the canary in this example will fall to the Oregonians who will get sick or die as a result of being unable to afford health insurance.
Entries by Oregonians for Health Security WebMaster (10)
Double-digit health insurance hikes
Individuals and small businesses are hit hard in Oregon
Sunday, July 20, 2008
BILL GRAVES
The Oregonian Staff
Double-digit rate increases are squeezing tens of thousands of Oregonians who buy individual or small-business health insurance, forcing some to join the ranks of the uninsured.
At least 19 health insurers have filed for rate increases since Jan. 1, when the state for the first time publicly posted rate filings under a new law. LifeWise Health Plan of Oregon received the biggest annual rate increase -- 28 percent for individuals and 26 percent for small employers -- which takes effect in the next two months.
The latest rate boosts are symptomatic of a "very sick health care system," says Bill Kramer, a Portland health care consultant. "With these increasing costs, there are going to be more people who can't afford coverage and can't get access to care. That will result in lost work time, lower productivity, and some people will get very sick and die unnecessarily."
Posted on Wednesday, July 23, 2008 at 11:40AM
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BlueCross rates spike in Oregon
The Associated Press
2008-07-02 08:18:22.0
PORTLAND, Ore. - 2008-07-02 08:18:22.0
Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon this week raised rates by 26 percent for individual insurance plans due for annual renewal and by 16 percent for small group plans.
The sharp increase led a Portland woman to file a challenge of the rate hike with the state. Department of Consumer and Business Services officials said they will schedule a hearing to determine whether the increase is justified, The Oregonian newspaper reported.
Dr. Bart McMullan, president of Regence BlueCross, said the rate increase is necessary because his company lost $21 million to $23 million last year on its individual health care plans.
"The last thing we want to do is raise premiums for individuals by 26 percent," McMullan said. "We are sorry we have to do it. We want to work on the causes so we don't have to do this over and over."
Posted on Monday, July 14, 2008 at 05:06PM
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A desperate warning
Insurance rate hike will add to ranks of uninsured
Published: July 5, 2008 12:00AM
The term “canary in the coal mine” — taken from coal miners’ use of the boisterous yellow birds as an early warning of toxic gas buildup in the mines — has come to mean any kind of harbinger of things beginning to go wrong. It’s important to remember that in the original sense, the canary delivered its “warning” by getting sick or dying.
Posted on Friday, July 11, 2008 at 04:48PM
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Health Advocates Rally As Regence Hikes Insurance Rates
Portland, OR July 1, 2008 4:41 p.m.
Large rate hikes went into effect Tuesday for individuals and small businesses covered by Oregon’s largest health insurance provider.
A coalition of health reform advocates rallied outside the Portland offices of Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield to bring attention to the rate increases. The changes could raise individuals’ healthcare costs by anywhere from $2000 to $4000.
Maribeth Healey is the Executive Director of Oregonians for Health Security. She says Regence isn’t the only company with rising rates.
Posted on Friday, July 11, 2008 at 04:39PM
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Soaring insurance rates pose urgent call
This week's increases underscore the bold action Oregon needs from its health care reform commission
Thursday, July 03, 2008
The Oregonian
T he big job facing Oregon health care reformers grew even more daunting this week with an alarming spike in rates charged by the state's largest health insurer.
Blaming out-of-control health care costs, Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon raised rates Tuesday by an eye-popping 26 percent for individual insurance plans. The insurer clipped small group plans, too, with those rates climbing by 16 percent, a blow primarily to small businesses with 50 employees or fewer.
The increases will inevitably force some Oregonians onto the state's growing rolls of uninsured. Others will become underinsured as they scramble for less expensive policies with larger deductibles and co-payments.
This development comes not as just another symptom of how badly broken the U.S. health care system is. The soaring rates also present an urgent new call to action to the Oregon Health Fund Board, the group created by the 2007 Legislature to recommend state reforms to this broken system.
Posted on Friday, July 11, 2008 at 03:23PM
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