* The guv has a new idea for health insurance…
As his proposal for near-universal health insurance languished in Springfield, Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Thursday announced an administrative maneuver designed to control the cost of individual medical premiums.
Using the state insurance code, regulators under Blagojevich will draft a rule that prevents insurers from hiking a customer’s premiums based on the person’s “health status” or medical condition. A second rule change — filed Thursday on an immediate, emergency basis — would require insurance companies to file quarterly financial disclosures about individual policies. A similar requirement will be created for small-group insurers, a spokeswoman said.
Blagojevich outlined the plans during a news conference at a Chicago hospital campus, where he was joined by health-care consumers who say they’ve been hit with skyrocketing insurance premiums. Lombard resident Roy Bocchieri said that after he was diagnosed with a blood disease, his premiums jumped when it came time to renew his individual policy.
* There seems to be some disagreement among critics over how the proposed rule changes would impact insurance polices…
House Insurance Committee Chairman Frank Mautino, a Spring Valley Democrat, said only eight other states have similar programs. Some have seen insurance premiums increase and companies stop writing policies, he said.
“It has the tendency to reduce the amount of coverage available within the market and also to raise the price because the pool within that structure tends to be a sicker pool,” Mautino said.
* But the Illinois Policy Institute claims this…
[I]nsurance companies currently only consider demographics, health care inflation, and the overall financial results of their risk pools when setting their renewal rates, and do NOT rate anyone’s individual policy renewal based on an individually insured’s claims. An Illinoisan with no claims on an individual health insurance policy receives the same increase at renewal that another Illinoisan who has a $1,000,000 claim on an individual policy with the same insurance company.
* The Sun-Times report partially backs up the IPI…
One major health insurance company, Humana, indicated that the rule the governor announced would not affect it because it “does not currently use an individual’s health status or health information when determining premium rate adjustments.”
* As does the Crain’s piece…
…a spokesman for UnitedHealthcare of Illinois Inc. [said] only that the firm does not set premium rates for individuals based on their health status or claims history.
* But back to the Sun-Times…
Not all insurers share that philosophy, however. Small-business owner Roy Bocchieri, 44, of Lombard, was paying about $700 a month for family coverage in 1999, he said. Then he got diagnosed with a rare bone-marrow disease that continues to require regular treatment.
Bocchieri’s monthly premiums increased 40 percent the first year after the diagnosis. They continued to increase every year thereafter.
“When they hit the $2,000-a-month range, I said ‘enough is enough,’” said Bocchieri, a father of four.
* But Speaker Madigan’s spokesperson dismissed the entire thing as a diversion…
Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said the governor’s travel schedule this week was curious, given the need for policymakers to be in Springfield.
“When the ADD (attention deficit disorder) kicks in, he flits off to Chicago every couple of days,” Brown said. “Absolutely, it’s diversionary.”