Feinstein Seeks To Block Insurance Rate Increases Across The Nation

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said Friday that she plans to introduce legislation that would bar insurance companies from enacting health insurance premium rate increases that the Secretary of the Health and Human Services deems to be unjustified.

The bill would create a national Medical Insurance Rate Authority, which would be able to prevent such increases. Feinstein's announcement follows reports that Anthem Blue Cross had intended to jack up premiums for certain policyholders in California by as much as 39 percent.

A report published Thursday by HHS found that health insurance companies have requested dramatic premium hike increases over the past year in states beyond California -- 56 percent in Michigan, 24 percent in Connecticut and 23 percent in Maine.

"This is unconscionable. It places a huge burden on people who are already struggling in these tough economic times, including the estimated 700,000 Anthem Blue Cross policyholders in California," said Feinstein in a statement. "The insurance industry reaps soaring profits by piling massive financial burdens onto consumers. According to a recent study by Health Care for America Now, America's five largest insurance companies reported record profits of $12.2 billion in 2009, an increase of $4.4 billion, or 56 percent, from 2008. And WellPoint, the parent company of Anthem Blue Cross, reported earning $2.7 billion in the fourth quarter of 2009."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/19/feinstein-seeks-to-block_n_469094.html

This week signed the letter urging Reid to create the public option by reconciliation and now she's introducing this legislation? Has Feinstein become a Democrat? This is quite encouraging!

Keep it up Diane.

I'm loving the new Feinstein. Is she not running again when her term is up and finally has decided to do the right thing(s)?

I'm having a hard time making it with the rate increase I got as of the first of the year. I have Anthem here in Florida and it stinks. They don't pay for squat and then they tell you it's your fault and I have to just take it. Why again do I have insurance?????

The health insurance industry needs MEGA regulating on their profit grab.

Keep it up!

Go for it!

:bounce:

The insurance industry has been jacking up rates for years. This is not something that just happened in the past few weeks.

Where has the good Senator been all this time during the health care debate?

Did she ever propose language in Senate health insurance legislation that would control insurance fees?

I don't think so. The health insurance industry would have opposed it.

So instead, why not just propose doing that in a separate piece of legislation that isn't going anywhere?

That's the smart and standard political thing to do. It gives more gullible people the impression that something is being done by Senator Feinstein to fight the insurance industry.

If Senator Feinstein was really serious she could have suggested that President Obama include it in his health care proposal on Monday, assuming she has access to President Obama. And I think she does.

If somehow her bill manages to get the support of 51 Senate Democrats, some Democrats, including herself, will tolerate and accept a Republican procedural "filibuster" to block it.

That would put it like so many good bills, DOA.

I don't trust DLC Di any farther than I can throw her.

Too little. too late.

A pox on all of them.

whether it was merited.

http://pnhp.org/blog/2010/02/19/the-obama-administrations-confidence-game-on-administrative-savings/

"...Most of us have tired of conspiracy theories. But think about this. The Obama plan (to be formally released Feb. 22) is a gift of our tax funds to the private insurance industry. Recent events have suggested that the plan may not survive the legislative process. Polls and focus groups show that the public is outraged by insurance company abuses. The insurers have chosen the most inopportune time in the reform process to cram outrageous premiums into the faces of their customers. Or is it inopportune? Look at the platform that it has given President Obama and the cover that it provides for members of Congress. It is giving them an avenue that will allow them to push through this program that the insurance industry understands that it must have for its own survival.

The Obama plan will leave tens of millions uninsured. It will not adequately control health care spending. It will perpetuate the profound administrative waste in our system. Above all, it will revitalize the private insurance industry for decades to come..."