Obama Warns Insurers About Rate Hikes

Obama Warns Insurers About Rate Hikes
From the Alliance for Retired Americans

An AFL-CIO blog post on Tuesday repeated a warning from President Obama that "health insurance companies should not use the new heath care reform law as an 'opportunity to enact unjustifiable rate increases.'" The President made his remarks at a White House ceremony marking the 90-day anniversary of signing the landmark bill, which he termed "a true patient's bill of rights." The warning came a day after a report by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) showed that health insurers are raising prices by an average of 20% for working-age adults who are not covered on the job and who buy their own policies. At the ceremony, Obama referred to Anthem Blue Cross of California attempting to raise its rates by 39%, before caving in to pressure. Now, says Obama, "The CEOs here today need to know that they're going to be required to publicly justify unreasonable premium increases on your websites, as well as the law's new website - healthcare.gov. As we set up the exchanges, we'll be watching closely, and we'll fully support states if they exercise their review authority to keep excessively expensive plans out of their insurance exchanges." Under the law's new rules issued Tuesday, Obama said the insurance companies' "worst abuses will be banned forever." For the full post, go to http://bit.ly/dxHBON.