Four large California health insurers will be putting planned rate increases through an extra layer of review.
Dave Jones, the new California insurance commissioner, recently asked his state's Big 4 insurers to refrain from increasing premiums for at least 60 days after the effective dates of their most recent rate filings.
Three of the carriers -California units of Aetna Inc., Hartford (NYSE:AET); UnitedHealth Group Inc., Minnetonka, Minn. (NYSE:UNH); and WellPoint Inc., Indianapolis (NYSE:WLP) — have agreed to comply with the request, Jones says.
Blue Shield of California, San Francisco, has not agreed to that request, but it has announced that it will hire an outside actuary to review rate increase filings.
Jones noted when he asked for the limit on increase requests that California health insurers have repeatedly increased their rates in recent months.
The insurers have attributed the requests to increases in overall health care costs and use of health care services; the effects of new state and federal benefits requirements, including the new federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA); and a severe recession that is leading healthier holders of individual coverage to drop their coverage.
- Allison Bell
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