Do you think the recently announced health insurance rate increases will affect public support for health care reform?
Anthem Blue Cross recently informed many of its approximately 800,000 individual policyholders that premiums would increase by as much as 39% starting March 1. (Murphy/Alonzo-Zaldivar, AP/Ventura County Star, 2/12). The insurer also told members that it might start adjusting premiums more often than once a year (California Healthline, 2/10). The parent company of Anthem Blue Cross is blaming the California insurer's rate increases on a range of issues, from the bad economy to the aging population.
Victoria Colliver reported Thursday in the San Francisco Chronicle that Anthem Blue Cross is not the only company raising rates for individual policyholders. Members of other health insurers say they've also received notice of rate hikes. Companies in four other states have announced increases as well.
The Administration has pointed to the Anthem increase as further evidence of why health reform efforts in Congress should continue.
Do you think the recently announced health insurance rate increases will affect public support for health care reform?
Will Steve Poizner's accusations that Meg Whitman's advisor attempted to force him out of the governor's race hurt his campaign or hers?
The week got off to a odd start when GOP gubernatorial hopeful Steve Poizner held a press conference to announce that a campaign strategist for Republican rival Meg Whitman had made "threats" designed to drive him out of the race. Poizner's campaign released a copy of an e-mail sent by Whitman advisor Mike Murphy that asks a Poizner consultant if the candidate would consider dropping out of the race. According to the e-mail, which Poizner also sent to the FBI, the U.S. Attorneys Office, state Attorney General Jerry Brown, and the Fair Political Practices Commission, Murphy says Whitman's campaign could spend $40 million "tearing up Steve if we must." Poizner called Murphy's tactics "highly improper and unethical."
Read more:
Poizner claims political extortion by gubernatorial rival Whitman, Sacramento Bee
Will Steve Poizner's accusations that Meg Whitman's advisor attempted to force him out of the governor's race hurt his campaign or hers?