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Well, actually, rate hikes from Anthem Blue Cross, a for-profit company, will probably still happen, according to actuaries and other experts with extensive knowledge of the individual health insurance market, in which the company operates. The best that Anthem Blue Cross customers in California can probably hope for, say these experts, is that the rate hikes will be less dramatic than what the company first proposed. (See "What Health Care Reform Really Means...
...From what I know about California regulations and rules, [Anthem's proposed rates] probably will meet the letter of the law," says Marian Mulkey, a senior program officer at the California Health Care Foundation, which studies the state's health-insurance market, among other topics...
Despite the fact that the state has some of the strongest consumer-protection laws in the country, California's regulations governing the individual health insurance market are not very strict. Insurers are free to set whatever rates they want, so long as they spend 70% of premiums paying claims, a threshold that's lower, for example, than those in Washington, New York and New Jersey. California is also what's known as a "file and use state," meaning insurers can increase rates in the individual market without state approval. The state can later act to rein in rates or revoke...
...Cross kerfuffle. "BIG insurance rate increases and MORE coming," wrote Gibbs, who said that such increases would serve as the "backdrop" for a bipartisan health care summit scheduled for Feb. 25. There, the Democrats will argue that without a massive, federal overhaul of the health care system and insurance market, costs will continue to rise dramatically and unpredictably for consumers. In addition, Representative Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, has launched an investigation into Anthem Blue Cross's parent company, WellPoint, and asked it to provide everything from internal e-mails about rate increases...
...government says it will lower the threshold for the highest income tax bracket rather than increase the sales tax. But all Greeks are likely to feel the pinch in some way. The fact that many families usually rely on a variety of sources of income (including untaxed or black-market work), and because many own their own home, may help blunt the pain. (See "Greek Tragedy: Athens' Financial Woes...