JenyEliza
Princess of Rhetoric
Gee....I thought the reform package was supossed to make insurance cheap, affordable and avialable to ALL....that's what the Democrat Jackals have been saying for years.
Yeah, right.
HMOs may hike premiums, slash jobs under reform | Reuters
Yeah, right.
HMOs may hike premiums, slash jobs under reform | Reuters
The U.S. House of Representatives approved the reform legislation late on Sunday, climaxing a year of uncertainty over the overhaul that cast a long shadow over the health insurance industry's future.
The overhaul faces expected approval in the Senate later this week while a legal threat looms from at least 11 states.
Should the changes become law, they create myriad pressures -- some almost immediately -- on the industry's ability to maintain its profitability.
While many of the provisions and fees based on market share do not kick in until 2014, some analysts expect insurers will act soon to shore up margins.
"All of this is going to cause the cost of healthcare insurance premiums to skyrocket massively," Collins Stewart analyst Brian Wright said.
"These companies can't run at a loss, so while you can eat some margin at the end of the day you have to massively raise prices. Massively," Wright said. "California will be begging for only 39 percent rate increases."
Democrats in recent weeks had seized on the insurers' rate hikes to generate momentum for health reform, including holding a Congressional hearing on WellPoint's (WLP.N) increases of as high as 39 percent.
The Morgan Stanley Healthcare Payor index .HMO of insurers rose 1.3 percent on Monday, although large insurers WellPoint and UnitedHealth Group (UNH.N) traded lower.