Health insurance premiums for individuals who like to purchase coverage on their own are soaring, as outlined by a study released Monday. While lawmakers debated the health care reform bill, health insurance companies were busy trying to make as much money as they could before the law’s provisions kick in. Individuals facing sharp increases in their insurance premiums are trying to save money by settling for fewer benefits and higher deductibles. In the mean time, steadily rising insurance premiums and a drop within the number of employers offering health coverage swelled the ranks of the uninsured by nearly 3 million individuals in 2009.
Article Source: People who purchase health insurance on their own facing steep hikes by Personal Money Store
Health insurance and cost trends
Premium hikes for health insurance for individuals far exceed increases within the premiums for employer-sponsored coverage, according to a new survey on health insurance cost trends from the Kaiser Family Foundation. According to the Associated Press, the non-profit foundation said premium hikes for individual coverage averaged 20 percent. Customers who were able to switch to cheaper plans brought the average increase in what individuals are paying for health insurance down to somewhere around 13 percent. This year’s individual health insurance premium spike tops last year’s 5 percent average increase for employer-sponsored family coverage. Health insurance cost trends for some of the employer-sponsored single coverage held steady.
Pricey medical insurance for individuals
The increasing cost of health insurance for individuals made news earlier this year when Anthem Blue Cross tried to raise its rates by as much as 39 percent in California. It was reported by the New York Times that the Kaiser study sheds light on how widespread these premium hikes are. The New York Times reports that when the proposed Anthem hikes were met with outrage from federal and state officials, there was little info about how widespread such increases were in other parts of the country. Drew Altman, who was the Kaiser foundation’s president and chief executive, told the Times that "The survey shows the steep increases we are reading about over the last several months aren’t just extreme cases."
Healthcare reform a long wait
The Kaiser survey highlights the challenges that about 14 million people who are younger than 65 and purchase their coverage in the individual market will face until changes under the health care reform law kick in 2014. All Americans could be required to have health insurance by then. Within the meantime, 52 percent of respondents in the Kaiser survey who already buy their own individual health coverage said they would keep their current plan next year, when 32 percent said they are not sure. 14 percent said that they would probably switch companies to cut costs.
Health care insurance programs have high deductibles
To try and save many money, individuals are getting plans that have higher deductibles. $ 2,500 is the average deductible. One in four individuals said their plan had an annual deductible of $ 5,000 or more. The number of those with high deductibles rose from 39 percent in 2007 to 47 percent in 2009.
Health coverage being lost by millions
For the 2.9 million U.S. adults who joined the ranks of the uninsured in 2009, health care reform doesn't do very much to help them with their current needs. As outlined by USA Today, in 2009 — the latest statistics accessible — 46.3 million American adults had no health insurance coverage, according to a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Only 4 in 5 working adults really have coverage. The percentage of uninsured adults of working age climbed from 19.7 percent to 21.1 percent in 2009, and 58.5 percent of American adults went without insurance for at least part of the year.
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Associated Press
google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5je_4AEzpzQnfbTmeeOg1yUO9jWRgD9GFOU080
New York Times
nytimes.com/2010/06/22/business/22kaiser.html?src=busln
USA Today
usatoday.com/news/health/2010-06-20-uninsured-reform_N.htm
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