Comments on: Rate reviews allow consumers to oversee health insurance increases http://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2012/04/20/rate-reviews-allow-consumers-to-oversee-health-insurance-increases/ Your Inside Track to Arizona Politics Fri, 24 May 2013 00:49:52 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Pat http://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2012/04/20/rate-reviews-allow-consumers-to-oversee-health-insurance-increases/comment-page-1/#comment-72315 Pat Fri, 04 May 2012 20:46:51 +0000 http://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2012/04/20/rate-reviews-allow-consumers-to-oversee-health-insurance-increases/#comment-72315 "Robust consumer involvement and added protections" would be a vast improvement here in Arizona. How far would it extend? The "client"is not the health consumer, even if the health consumer pays 50% of the bill. The insurance companies and the health providers leave the consumer most often completely out of the loop by design. Often they employ methods citing privileged data. An example this past year: I called the AZ Dept of Insurance to find out whether they were going to approve a 70% rate increase requested by my Long Term Care Insurance PLan Provider as press sources reported; and I asked if the AZ Insurance Dept had already approved the increase,would they provide me with the reasons and hard data that backed up the change. I was worried about financial stability. I was greeted by an unfriendly & annoyed Ins Dept. employee, told plainly that theAZ Dept of Insurance served the Insurance Companies, solicit no public input, and did not have to provide any of their decisions to the public or reasonable data to back up the reasons for rate increases. They cited "privileged information." So 30 states have transparency, but apparently the health "industry" successfully blocks that here in Arizona due to a Legislature with many members from Industry. “Robust consumer involvement and added protections” would be a vast improvement here in Arizona. How far would it extend? The “client”is not the health consumer, even if the health consumer pays 50% of the bill. The insurance companies and the health providers leave the consumer most often completely out of the loop by design. Often they employ methods citing privileged data. An example this past year:

I called the AZ Dept of Insurance to find out whether they were going to approve a 70% rate increase requested by my Long Term Care Insurance PLan Provider as press sources reported; and I asked if the AZ Insurance Dept had already approved the increase,would they provide me with the reasons and hard data that backed up the change. I was worried about financial stability.
I was greeted by an unfriendly & annoyed Ins Dept. employee, told plainly that theAZ Dept of Insurance served the Insurance Companies, solicit no public input, and did not have to provide any of their decisions to the public or reasonable data to back up the reasons for rate increases. They cited “privileged information.”
So 30 states have transparency, but apparently the health “industry” successfully blocks that here in Arizona due to a Legislature with many members from Industry.

]]> By: Jeremy Engdahl-Johnson http://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2012/04/20/rate-reviews-allow-consumers-to-oversee-health-insurance-increases/comment-page-1/#comment-71995 Jeremy Engdahl-Johnson Sat, 21 Apr 2012 15:41:24 +0000 http://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2012/04/20/rate-reviews-allow-consumers-to-oversee-health-insurance-increases/#comment-71995 Healthcare costs accelerated in February 2012. http://www.healthcaretownhall.com/?p=5134 Healthcare costs accelerated in February 2012. http://www.healthcaretownhall.com/?p=5134

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