Current Article

Anthem Blue Cross Sends a Sign to Its Customers

By Pat Racimora on February 13, 2010 at 3:45 PM in Current Affairs

If you are one of 800,000 individual policy holders in California, be prepared for Anthem Blue Cross to increase your premium within days by up to a whopping 39 percent .

So why is Anthem Blue Cross flipping off its customers?

Apparently just because it can.

And, didn’t this company just make such a move last year? Worse yet, those who have individual policies are often financially vulnerable because they are the only option available to those who are self-employed or who would otherwise be uninsured.

The for-profit health insurance game defines perverse. As Duke Helfand, writing for the Los Angeles Times notes, “ Insurers are free to cherry-pick the healthiest customers in the lightly regulated individual market. They can raise rates at any time as long as they notify the state Department of Insurance and prove that they are spending at least 70% of premiums on medical care.”

So, is Anthem Blue Cross, California’s largest health insurer, running in the red? Maybe that would explain the gouging.

Well, no. In fact the parent company of Anthem Blue Cross posted a huge profit increase and project solid earnings this year. As Helfand reports, “WellPoint Inc., the nation’s largest health insurer by membership, earned $2.7 billion, or $5.95 a share, for the final three months of last year, compared with profit of $331.4 million, or 65 cents a share, for the same period the previous year.”

There will be a lot of screaming, of course, from Steve Poizner, California’s Insurance commissioner, Senator Barbara Boxer, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, to President Obama himself who declared this action as a reason for health care reform.

In the meantime, Anthem Blue Cross has offered only the usual scape goat—rising health care costs—as its excuse.

Where did I put that pitchfork?

UPDATE: Well, admid the criticism, ABC is delaying its price hike according to
MSNBC. You don’t suppose it was the cartoon. : )

Guest

Great post, but I think you’re barking up the wrong tree here. Most commenters I read on this blog are afraid of health care reform. Maybe the all can afford these hikes and don’t mind the obscene profits the insurance companies are making by bilking honest hardworking people.
No Longer Banned in Beantown

So instead of the massive and convoluted and likely unconstitutional Obamacare, how about a few smaller scope bills that will pass and actually provide some relief.

Limiting profit is a tough nut, but 30% profit sounds like gouging. What makes up the 70%? Does HMO management count as medical care?

Whatever happened to electronic filing? That was supposed to save billions. Why can’t those smaller scope issues that Hillary raised and Obama copied be implemented?
Rose

Mine went from $150.00 a month for a policy with a $5,000.00 deductible per person per year to about $900.00 a month. This happened over a period of a few years.

Our family is covered for a big expense but it is highway robbery in the meantime.

We never go to the doctor, knock on wood, have no health problems, the combined files of our 4 kids wouldn’t measure a half inch thick and that includes a tonsillectomy (which by the way didn’t meet the $5,000.000 mark so we paid for that out of pocked in addition to the premiums).

We are already paying for other people’s health care, while we are taking responsibility for ourselves.

And I would note that I have the SAME KIND OF INSURANCE THAT THE WOMAN BARACK OBAMA USED AS AN EXAMPLE - the one who wanted to be buried in her Obama T-shirt – she HAD insurance. I have insurance.

What I DON’T HAVE is a DOCTOR. Ours closed their doors.

The last time i went to the emergency room, 9 out of the 10 people there HAD insurance, they did not have doctors. One was a forest ranger who had been bitten by a tick, who came in for a shot.

Do we need reforms? Sure. But what our leaders are doing is not the way.

And, having had two kids with insurance and two without – you pay full bore costs if you DON’T have insurance, the hospitals cut you no slack, but if you HAVE insurance, even the highway robbery kind, you do get to pay at the insurance company’s reduced rates – and that is a significant discount.

Nevertheless, Blue Cross is foolish to do this now. We’ll be shopping around. And it will drive people to think government run healthcare is a good idea. it isn’t.

You’d think I would be for Obama’s plans. I am not.
Sassy

Anthem Blue Cross is a subsidiary of WellPoint, and they claim that most customers will increase by 20%. Also, they claim to have lost business due to the economy forcing people to choose lower cost options.
Who can discern any of the truth now? At this point in time, these companies could hold costs at current rates until there is some certainty in healthcare reform. Even a 20% increase is exorbitant. Another pitchfork please!
Docelder

Dumbass, the insurers are raising rates because they know Obama is going to make people buy the insurance anyway. There is no competition and no free market. If you are in California, you can’t buy health insurance in Nevada. Obama isn’t reforming healthcare, he is paying off his corporatist friends. He is no progressive, he is a Marxist aligned with a bunch of Luddites and they are all just pawns now of the corporatists.
Sassy

Oops forgot:
Our two hospital systems are facing drastic cuts in funding.
TennCare has cut payments which leads to matching federal dollars being lost.
Washington needs to stop talking and start working!
No Longer Banned in Beantown

Obamacare and expanding Medicare won’t work. For one thing, many, many doctors are refusing to take new Medicare patients. Adding more Medicare patients to the rolls is not going to help.

And with government insurance, have no doubt that bureaucrats will be making your health care decisions. And those decisions will benefit the company paying the cost, not the patient. It happens now with HMO’s, Medicare, and Workers Comp insurance.

Don’t dare get injured on the job. There are so many layers of government required buraucracy in some states, in the name of “saving money”, that you will be lucky to ever get treated, unless it is a life or death emergency.

People with no insurance are charged more for service than people who have insurance, because carriers negotiate a lower cost. And people who have purchased insurance on their own pay exponentially more than those who have insurance through an employer.

Forget about Obamacare and implement changes that will make a difference now.

1) Hospitals and doctors should not be allowed to charge more simply because someone does not have insurance. Are the uninsured going to be subsidizing those that do not have insurance? Yeah right. New Law: Medical charges to uninsured cannot be higher than highet charges reimbursed by insurance for simialar service.

2) People should be able to purchase insurance through pools to lower their premium cost. State governments provide insurance for their workers. New Law: Individuals must be able to purchase policies from the state workers plan. It would be the equivilent of allowing individuals COBRA rights to state worker insurance.

3) Currently, Health Care insurance plans cannot be purchased across state lines. So if you have expensive insurance in New York, you cannot purchase less expensive insurance in Pennsylvania. New Law: Allow insurance companies to sell policies across state lines and create a national market. Competition will bring the cost of premiums down.

4) Implement Electronic Health Records. But, make it a Felony for unauthorized access or use of records. Misdemeanors for HIPPA violations do not have enough teeth.

Obamacare is a smokescreen, a mirage intended to throw people off course from addressing the real issues.

Instead of Blaming the Republicans, and Blaming the Democrats, how about actually doing something?

There is nothing preventing any member of Congress, or Senate, or even the President from presenting a simple bill to a committee.

The Military has a term for it. It’s called LEADERSHIP.
A friend

Now call me cynical, but: haven’t we all reached the conclusion that the bogus health reform crud is simply to benefit the insurance companies who own 38.2 percent of obamaco stock? And would it be so out of line to think that the insurance cos would put the scare of higher premiums if there is no “insurance reform”? A little smoke and mirrors at work?
ces

There’s no competition because the industry is protected. They can share info to set prices. Thus, by their own will they have no competition.

But when I was working for a company, their premium for me was nearly $500/month.

I pay $138/mo as a sole proprietor. Where the blazes is that extra $360+ going? Oh yeah. Profit. Which would be fine, except that it’s a bit excessive.
PizzaDriver

good ideas, Banned.
PizzaDriver

as Pat said, they raise prices because they can.
No Longer Banned in Beantown

Thanks, but they are not my ideas. These are all ideas that Hillary talked about in the debates, and Obama then copied, saying “Me too”.

So why can’t Obama get any of these passed? He has not even presented any of them. He has not presented anything other than talk.

In one year he can’t implement a single change to health care or anything else?

Ok, I accepted the fact that Obama was a usless idiot long before the election. But why can’t any members of Congress or the Senate pass anything? Something, anything, one simple improvement to health care, and then build on it.

Are they all as useless as Obama. When Congress looks in the mirror do they all see Obama? Because that’s all I see, a Congress full of narcisistic idiots only usefull to enrich themselves. Republicans and Democrats.
Yttik

Bahaha! I’m sorry, that cartoon has made me laugh and now I can’t even think to comment on the subject matter. It’s a cute cartoon! I think you should make a rubber stamp of it so people can use it when they pay their bills.

Seriously, it’s a great protest logo. I can think of several congresscritters that should really receive it as a postcard.
Stan Davis

Great ‘toon!! Nelson Rockefeller would be so proud.

Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO
Mitch Dworkin

Obama had better get tough very quickly and stand up to Blue Cross or else he will lose his base and probably lose power. If Hillary had been President, then she would not be a pushover like how Obama is. She more than likely would already have had health care passed and she would be respected by Congress. The people who are bullying Obama around would not have been able to do that to Hillary if she was President!

Mitch Dworkin
Dallas, Texas
http://www.mitchdworkin.com/
mortuus lark

I say that they raised 39 percent because they expect an inflation rate in California of more than 20 percent – plus they expect to pay 19 percent more for medical services on their policy holder’s billings because hospitals and physicians will want to make up for all the people the will need to hire to revive the California economy.

That’s why I have been telling you guys that the Health Reform Bill is a jobs bill. And that’s why I have been telling you guys that essentially is a put down America bill because it wants to redirect towards health care more than 25 percent of the working people.

That is why in Obamacare there is no opposition to these kinds of raises. Because companies need to overcome inflation + higher costs of medical care due to higher employment rates at health care facilities + doctor’s offices.

That’s why I have been telling you guys that like everything else the idea is crap because it is unsustainable. The country is in big trouble.
mortuus lark

I say that they raised 39 percent because they expect an inflation rate in California of more than 20 percent – plus they expect to pay 19 percent more for medical services on their policy holder’s billings because hospitals and physicians will want to make up for all the people the will need to hire to revive the California economy.

That’s why I have been telling you guys that the Health Reform Bill is a jobs bill. And that’s why I have been telling you guys that essentially is a put down America bill because it wants to redirect towards health care more than 25 percent of the working people.

That is why in Obamacare there is no opposition to these kinds of raises. Because companies need to overcome inflation + higher costs of medical care due to higher employment rates at health care facilities + doctor’s offices.

That’s why I have been telling you guys that like everything else the idea is crap because it is unsustainable. The country is in big trouble.
mortuus lark

I say that they raised 39 percent because they expect an inflation rate in California of more than 20 percent – plus they expect to pay 19 percent more for medical services on their policy holder’s billings because hospitals and physicians will want to make up for all the people the will need to hire to revive the California economy.

That’s why I have been telling you guys that the Health Reform Bill is a jobs bill. And that’s why I have been telling you guys that essentially is a put down America bill because it wants to redirect towards health care more than 25 percent of the working people.

That is why in Obamacare there is no opposition to these kinds of raises. Because companies need to overcome inflation + higher costs of medical care due to higher employment rates at health care facilities + doctor’s offices.

That’s why I have been telling you guys that like everything else the idea is crap because it is unsustainable. The country is in big trouble. This is backdoor socialism. But it is the only way out that Obama, Dems and GOP knows. They are all socialist when it comes to having 25 percent of the economy out of health care – jobs jobs jobs for the kindergartener of today.
getfitnow

Where are you, ces? In CA, as a sole proprietor, I pay almost $500.
Peggy Sue

I think few here or elsewhere object to healthcare reform If you remember before the election, the issue had a 70% approval in the national polls.

What people object to is the underhanded way that the Congress went about this whole shebang, the lack of clarity and transparency, the idea of “mandates” without any way of controlling cost, the unexplained manner in which our current healthcare system could be trimmed without reducing quality [the 500 billion slash in Medicare, for instance, with the insistence that quality would not be reduced for seniors].

We’re never going to have reform that satisfies everyone. But the negative reaction could have been greatly reduced had the President taken the time and made the effort to assuage the misgivings in the public. Instead, he allowed the Republicans wage a full frontal assault, using fear and misinformation as the weapon. Again.

We desperately need healthcare reform. Medicare is a financial nuclear bomb just waiting to go off.

So, don’t blame the voters who don’t want reform. Blame the arrogance and ineptitude of the Dems for not selling it properly!
Peggy Sue

I should also mention that this bill has turned into a hodge-podge of special interest give-aways. Why the Dems thought they could rush something this huge, this complicated and plug the holes with halfway, unexplained solutions is beyond me. This bill was suppose to be for the American public. Not a trophy for the Democratic Party.

I know what it’s like to have insurance, even an expensive, so-called Cadillac plan, and then have a medical disaster come by and have to fight tooth and nail with these bastards to get my bills paid, while my son is held in limbo, needing expensive treatments that I couldn’t come close to paying for on my own. Because all my money had gone into premiums that were suppose to cover a medical disaster.

I got the bills paid by the company. But if I had problems? Pity the poor souls that have HMO’s or no insurance at all. Because that’s really what we’re talking about.

Makes me so angry I could spit nails!
kiltie 65

I thought the remark Obummer was spouting early on, and I can’t recall it exactly, but something to the effect, “80% of medical costs are caused by 20% of the people”. Basically, meaning the older generation (or disabled) most of whom have faithfully paid their premiums all these years, and who now are starting to use their paid for benefits on needed medical care. Fortunately, my husband and myself have been very healthy, and continue in good health. Now, in our 70′s, when medical care may be needed in the future, Obamacare is proposing drastic medicare cuts and suggesting we should just use pain pills until we die, rather than us “non productive” citizens (that term was used, too) wasting money prolonging our non productive life. Heil, Obama.
Stan Davis

Anthem is delaying implementing the hike so that regulators can investigate.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35384436/ns/business/

Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO
TeakWoodKite

Pat, you don’t have ithe pithfork on layaway ‘oer at Seattle Mosses do you?

Funny thing about 40 acres and mule. It’s not Farmland and and the consumer is the braying jackass. As of December my health care went up 600 buckaroos a month. In the end it’s just frakin money, Multiply that times several million people that got health care jack all in the same year and the state of California is one F’ed up economy.

Wy these “key fobs” in we send to DC can’t resolve ,with common sense, the basic inequities of the market place is really sad. I get a better deal from PG&E than I do for my healthcare, which isn’t saying much.
TeakWoodKite

Pat, you don’t have ithe pithfork on layaway ‘oer at Seattle Mosses do you?

Funny thing about 40 acres and mule. It’s not Farmville and and the consumer is the braying jackass. As of December my health care went up 600 buckaroos a month, so much for the re entry burn. In the end it’s just frakin money, but multiply that times several million people in California that got “healthcare jacked” all in the same “drive by year” and the state of California is one F’ed up economy.

Why these “key fobs” in we send to DC can’t resolve ,with common sense, the basic inequities of the market place is really sad. I get a better deal from PG&E than I do for my healthcare, which isn’t saying much
Diana L. C.

Hey, Guest–Don’t forget also that it took lots of doing to get the initial “guest” list for the O WH. Let’s see if you can guess who many of his guests were on numerous occasions: insurance companies and Big Pharma.

Now why did he originally want NOT to let that out, and why in the H#*l do you think now that so many don’t trust Obama care?
Diana L. C.

Actually, can’t remember for sure, so if someone else does know—Hillary made it clear that healthcare would not be something she tried to push through quickly. She knew it would take hard work done intelligently–i.e., not by idiotic lawyerly Congressmen trying to put through pork–to get it done correctly. We probably would not have even heard the words “tea party” if Hillary rather than Obambi had been POTUS.
Diana L. C.

Lark, I actually like your comment this time. But I don’t really remember you telling us any of this before.
mortuus lark

I say that John McCain had the solution during the elections but the people didn’t want to believe him. Is difficult to believe that the best idea is to decouple health care from employers as employee groups and have health care insurance be purchased by individuals like auto, life and casualty. In all of those three, with time, rates drop dramatically because of many factors like competition, but primarily because in all of those are universal groups – which is essentially one group – the nation.

McCain was going to give 5 thousand – money in hand – tax credit to each family for the purchase of health insurance – maybe even more. Because people would pay higher payroll taxes and businesses would pay higher business taxes if they can’t deduct health insurance as an explense.

By creating a universal group – the nation – the first good thing would be that companies out there would create a product for a typical healthy family with kids for what the government would subsidize plus a little extra and a deductible to protect against abuse. Then they would make products for special families and many other products for people with problems like obesity, smokers, diabetics, etc. – and the government could subsidize part of those policies as well.

Hillary’s problem in 94 was the same that we have today that they want to tag the health insurance problem on to businesses – and businesses have to many problems in their hand to have to deal with insuring everyone. It creates huge business problems.
mortuus lark

I say that John McCain had the solution during the elections but the people didn’t want to believe him. Is difficult to believe that the best idea is to decouple health care from employers as employee groups and have health care insurance be purchased by individuals like auto, life and casualty. In all of those three, with time, rates drop dramatically because of many factors like competition, but primarily because in all of those are universal groups – which is essentially one group – the nation.

McCain was going to give 5 thousand – money in hand – tax credit to each family for the purchase of health insurance – maybe even more. Because people would pay higher payroll taxes and businesses would pay higher business taxes if they can’t deduct health insurance as an explense.

By creating a universal group – the nation – the first good thing would be that companies out there would create a product for a typical healthy family with kids for what the government would subsidize plus a little extra and a deductible to protect against abuse. Then they would make products for special families and many other products for people with problems like obesity, smokers, diabetics, etc. – and the government could subsidize part of those policies as well.

Hillary’s problem in 94 was the same that we have today that they want to tag the health insurance problem on to businesses – and businesses have to many problems in their hand to have to deal with insuring everyone. It creates huge business problems.
Touchet

Thats the whole point. So that they will force you to buy the expensive health care.
mortuus lark

The good thing about McCain’s proposal is that after some years the market would stabilize and prices and procedures would standarize (what Obama wants) through internet and technology and prices would begin to drop with competition. Just like with dentist and chiropractors and acupuncturist. People will know where they could find the best and cheapest services and seek them.

What’s bad about employer base health insurance is “everything is bad about employer base insurance” because it works on privileges and people don’t care about abusing it or costs.
mortuus lark

The good thing about McCain’s proposal is that after some years the market would stabilize and prices and procedures would standarize (what Obama wants) through internet and technology and prices would begin to drop with competition. Just like with dentist and chiropractors and acupuncturist. People will know where they could find the best and cheapest services and seek them.

What’s bad about employer base health insurance is “everything is bad about employer base insurance” because it works on privileges and people don’t care about abusing it or costs.
Anonymous

This is just one more example of how the democrat have completely botched something that could have been beneficial and part of that has to do with the fact that the moron Guest elected doesn’t know how to do SHIT!!!! HOWS THAT HOPIE CHANGIE STUFF WORKING OUT FOR YOU!?! AND TO THINK WE COULD HAVE ELECTED SOMEONE COMPETENT.

Someone tell the bot to go shovel his crap somewhere else before I take his shovel and beat him with it. I mean how many times can you tell an idiot that majority of us supported liberal policies until they lost their damn minds last year and nominated an empty suit who is doing just as badly as we knew he would. I’ve seen several people tell Guest this, but I guess they must not have WiFi in Obama’s rectum and he can’t read replies one he returns home after a long hard day of trolling.
don x

Your toon sends an appropriate message. Hope they get the point!

There are investigations underway to halt unreasonable insurance increases. However, these often go nowhere but take up a lot of time and are put on the tube for show. The best way to get some action is to flood the legislators with protests and to let them know they need to do something more than “investigate” if they want to be reelected. The insurance companies will do whatever they can to raise rates to the extent current law and insurance regulations allow. These regulations may need to be changed
Rich

A wonderful stand alone cartoon on a very important topic! In my opinion what Blue Cross is doing is showing all of us at least two important things. One is that by raising fees so dramatically and so close on the heel of what looks like the failure to pass the House or Senate versions of the health care bill that they are very angry about being deprived of 41,000,000 new potential customers that would be forced to buy health insurance. It also shows us that corporations are not people and should not have the same status or rights of people. A person might actually care about more than the bottom line and how to take advantage of our fellow humans. A person might also think about what is good for the country during these difficult times. A corporation, not having a heart, a soul, a spirit, or belief in anything except http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35384436/ns/business/the mighty dollar could care less about people or this country.
This also shows what happens when corporations are allowed to have a monopoly on any product or service. And why the government is responsible for what Blue Cross and no doubt other insurance companies cannot wait to punish the public because health insurance was not made mandatory. Also as a monopoly and a corporation without government control, they have nothing to fear.
Rich
elaine

I remember when Blue Cross/Blue Shield was a not for profit. I think we need more non-profits in the health insurance biz. To hell with BC/BS, WellPoint, AETNA & Humana. Sell insurance across state lines for starters.
EllenD

I don’t think this nonsense talk of cross state competition makes sense. Wellpoint’s head office is in Indianapolis. They bought California Blue Cross and did this just as they did it with their Blue Cross subsidiary in Maine.
creeper

Thanks for the link, Stan. There was a real gem of truth in there, thrown out almost offhandedly:

“The company has…insisted that the situation shows the need for a health-care overhaul that requires everyone to have health insurance.”

Nobody even bothers to pretend any more that this is actually about health CARE. It’s about forcing millions of people to buy insurance and they don’t care who knows it.
ces

Texas. Just went to some insurance comparison website and picked a plan. Happens to be BCBS. Who knows…..
donjo

We all sit here and fume and fuss a bout the screw job Wall St. and Big Biz has done to the American people. What the hell does it take before someone (US) does something about it? What does it take before We the People EXPLODE! A march on Washington ain’t gonna do it; it need to be done via personal contact with the assholes that are our elected politicians.

May sit-ins at every pols office might have some effect. I dunno; I’m just as frustrated as everyone else.

We could start by correcting the meme that the Great Zero is a socialist; if he’s anything, he’s a DINO – a right-wing republican in democrat’s clothing. The wingers are controlling the conversation – as usual – and everything they planned long ago has fallen into place. Goodby, democracy as we used to know it.
donjo

We all sit here and fume and fuss a bout the screw job Wall St. and Big Biz has done to the American people. What the hell does it take before someone (US) does something about it? What does it take before We the People EXPLODE! A march on Washington ain’t gonna do it; it need to be done via personal contact with the assholes that are our elected politicians.

Maybe sit-ins at every pols office might have some effect. I dunno; I’m just as frustrated as everyone else.

We could start by correcting the meme that the Great Zero is a socialist; if he’s anything, he’s a DINO – a right-wing republican in democrat’s clothing. The wingers are controlling the conversation – as usual – and everything they planned long ago has fallen into place. Goodby, democracy as we used to know it.
Steve1

Like I said, told you so!!! We do need HCR, not that crap that Barry Soeoro is trying to peddle! The Repugs and the Dems…better get it together for the American People! Not the shit they are trying to pass as HCR for the people! Yes, quality reform, which is fair and balanced….Screw the HCC, theyare crooks just like the the banking system….with our bailout money! When are we going to get a party which serves the people???? Clinton, 2012! Let’s dump the puppet!
Mitch Dworkin

I am not sure where health care would have fallen on her list of priorities but I definitely believe that she would have gotten it done getting a lot of what she wanted if she tried to pass it as President.

Hillary would not have taken all of the crap that Obama has taken in my opinion. I see Hillary operating Margaret Thatcher style (not her particular political beliefs) as an “Iron Lady.”

I agree with you that “We probably would not have even heard the words “tea party” if Hillary rather than Obama had been POTUS” because she would not have let those town hall meetings get out of control the way they did last August and she would be tough enough to handle Rush Limbaugh, FOX News, and Matt Drudge where she would be in control of the message as opposed to how Obama is losing the message war to them.

Obama is way out of his league in the message war fight while Hillary would probably have already tried to cram a back door version of The Fairness Doctrine through which is the one and only thing that Rush Limbaugh and his wing of the GOP really and truly fear. I think that Obama has about as much of a chance of beating Rush Limbaugh in a message war (when the fight is on even terms and on a level playing field) as he would of beating Michael Jordan in a one-on-one basketball game when the game is being played on even terms!

Mitch Dworkin
norris hall

There’s been a lot of talk by Republicans about reducing health care premiums by being able to buy insurance across state lines.
ONe has to wonder if this is true since the biggest champions of the idea are insurance companies like Anthem.
Let’s face it, Insurance companies like Anthem are in the business of making as big a profit as they can.
They have little concern for the plight of their customers, most of whom are small businesses having a tough time making it in a bad economic climate.
Like the big banks they have learned that, in a free market economy, it’s every man for himself.
Obama is right.
This is just a preview of coming attractions.
Healthcare costs are going to continue to go through the roof.
It will start with those who are on individual plans and don’t have any clout.
But sooner or later it will seep into the employee group plans and everyone will start to scream. Even the Republicans