New California health insurance rates unveiled Source : HKTDC Online
Developments in California are being watched carefully around the country as an important indicator of whether the healthcare law can deliver on its promise to expand health coverage at an affordable price. Many Republicans, insurance executives and other critics of the law have been warning that consumers are in for a shock next year when insurance companies raise rates to comply with the law's many new requirements.
Supporters were upbeat after an initial look at the proposed premiums, while critics remain unimpressed.
"These rates are way below the worst-case gloom-and-doom scenarios we have heard," said Peter Lee, executive director of Covered California, the state agency implementing the healthcare law. "But let's be clear, some consumers will have prices that go up. There may be some sticker shock."
The new government-run market is aimed at many of the state's uninsured and at Californians who already purchase their own health insurance. The majority of Californians receive health coverage from their employers and are not among those targeted for enrollment.
The health plans selected by the state will sell uniform benefits, each offering four broad categories of coverage called Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze.
Platinum policies will offer the most comprehensive benefits and carry the highest prices, followed by Gold, Silver and Bronze. The Bronze package will have the lowest premiums, but people would be on the hook for a greater share of their medical bills. The rates revealed Thursday still must be reviewed by state regulators.
Within each of those four benefit categories, plans will have the same co-pays, deductibles and limits on out-of-pocket medical expenses.
As a result, consumers will be able to compare insurance prices in their regions more easily, once these rates are finalized by July.
Consumers shopping in the exchange will have three to six health insurance plans to choose from in each of the state's 19 regions.
In the south Los Angeles County region, for instance, rates for a 40-year-old purchasing a Silver plan ranged from $242 a month through Health Net Inc. to $325 a month through Kaiser Permanente. Overall, Los Angeles County had the lowest premiums statewide for the Silver plans.
The average premium for individual plans sold through EHealthInsurance in California last year was $177 a month. Covered California said the average premium for the three lowest Silver plans statewide was $321 a month, albeit for more comprehensive benefits.
Overall, state officials said they can't estimate yet how much rates will rise on average. Blue Shield of California, one of the winning bidders in the exchange, said its existing individual policyholders would pay about 13% more, on average, for coverage in the state marketplace.