So WellPoint in California decided to postpone their 30+% increase in premiums because there was quite a bit of backlash (ie:outrage across the land), but guess what? The Blues of Michigan are planning to announce an increase of up to 56%, and Anthem in Maine is asking the insurance regulators for a 23% pop.
Timing is everything - these guys are pushing up the premiums for what I think are probably some logical "business" reasons.
1) They believe they've beaten back the parts of the reform effort that push them into "competing" harder against one another - or against the government.
2) They figure that whatever piece-of-crap makes it outa the US Congress, it'll carry an Individual Mandate, and in return, they'll have to accept all comers so they're trying to boost the revenue now in order to deal with the losses later. (Ya gotta remember; the mandate carries the guaranty that tax dollars will be available to help buy insurance for people who can't afford the premiums that are being jacked up right now)
3) They're asking for big increases now so they can give a little on the price later, which makes 'em look a little more like the good guys they need us to think they are, and still turn a nice profit. This is every used car manager's favorite gimmick - a day before the "Big Blowout Sale", they boost the price by $2500, and then allow the prospect to beat 'em out of a $1200 discount.
BTW: If any of Our Esteemed Representatives get outa line, the big money on K Street now has the hammer - SCOTUS took care of that one a little while back.
In the end, we're gonna pay the cost of healthcare insurance for everybody (almost everybody) one way or another. "Conservatives" want us to pay for insurance plus profit margin plus administrative costs plus shareholder equity plus management bonuses and perks. "Liberals" wanna pay for insurance plus administration costs. I wonder which approach makes more sense from a Smart-Business-Practice perspective.
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