Hartford Courant: Dodd Urges Anthem To Reconsider Plan To Increase Health Insurance Rates
News Article
Dodd Urges Anthem To Reconsider Plan To Increase Health Insurance Rates - Hartford Courant
Diane Levick
The Courant reported last Wednesday that Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield is seeking Connecticut Insurance Department approval for the increases. They would affect most of the 56,000 residents under age 65 who have bought individual policies on their own from Anthem.
The increases don't apply to Anthem group policies, which are sold to employers, though some employers have also complained of recent steep premium increases.
Anthem's proposed increases on individual policies "run counter to the goal of providing all Americans quality, affordable health care" at a time federal health care reform efforts are under way and the insurance industry is participating, Dodd said in a letter to David R. Fusco, the company's president in Connecticut.
"Should these new rates kick in, there is no question that additional Connecticut families will join the ranks of the uninsured," Dodd said, noting more than 322,000 residents are uninsured. He said his office has already heard from constituents who have been told they will see a several thousand dollar increase in their health care premiums.
Dodd, who began a "listening tour" in January to hear from constituents on health care reform, said Fusco had been "kind enough" to join him at the kickoff. In his letter Monday, Dodd reminded him that participants felt the status quo couldn't continue and added, "I would ask that you reconsider your proposed rate increases in Connecticut and instead join me once again in my efforts and those of the Senate and the House to enact comprehensive health reform legislation this year."
Dodd is the latest official to criticize the rate increases. Last week, state Healthcare Advocate Kevin Lembo called on Anthem to withdraw its proposal and urged regulators to reject it if it's not withdrawn. U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, said Anthem's proposal is a "textbook example of what's broken in the system and why health care reform is needed."
Dodd is a senior member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and chairman of its Subcommittee on Children and Families.
Source