patrick.net

One problem is that the CA insurance commissioner Dave Jones does not actually have the power to regulate insurance premiums.

There's a bill called AB52 that was introduced to give him that power, but it's not at all certain that it will pass.

Another problem is that medical insurers are exempt from anti-trust law. They can collude, fix prices, whatever. It's all legal for them, because they bribed the right Congressmen.

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/nov/02/business/fi-hiltzik2
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/63997-democrats-want-to-revoke-insurances-antitrust-exemption-in-healthcare-bill

Even if the CA insurance commissioner gets the power, it will only work as long as s/he is not corrupt.

Let's hope for the best.

Update: The general increase (same age) was 19.2%, and the increase including the cost of being one year older was 22.7%.

So it *appears* that Kaiser is doing the same as everyone else seem to be doing:

They are increasing the rates by large amounts in anticipation of future restrictions on rate hikes.

It always made me laugh when people try to say Kaiser is 'non-profit'. Those scumbags are as bad as anyone else, worse if you consider the fact that of you are in an area with no kaiser hospital you are completely uninsured. I once had to visit my doctors just to get my documents to transfer to another insurer and without my consent they tried to charge me $300 just for showing up and asking for my records.

Not to rag on Kaiser, but in general:

There is no such thing as a non-profit. Non-profit just means that a certain hierarchy of employees get all the profits.

And I should add, Kaiser is still notably less expensive than the alternatives.

Yes, Kaiser can be less expensive. After all, it was created with the goal of denying benefits. They charge less (still too much) because they pay out less. Their practices suck... I had a patient who moved out of state and Kaiser refused to drop them from their Medicare HMO; the patient's family had to complain to Medicare before Kaiser would drop them.

In the meantime, during those three months that Kaiser refused to drop the patient, They (husband & wife both had policies) received about $1500 per month in federal and patient premiums without paying a dime out. In fact, they denied a medical bill because the patient went to an out of plan doctor (duh, he was out of the plan because he was out of state).

Kaiser blows & sucks at the same time.