Customers of three California health insurers – including Aetna Inc. and Anthem Blue Cross — will get some breathing room after the companies agreed to delay rate increases for 60 days, isolating Blue Shield of California as the lone holdout, The Associated Press reports.
Anthem Blue Cross, Aetna and PacifiCare agreed to the delay to give the state Department of Insurance time to examine their recent rate filings, Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones said.
The commissioner cannot reject premium increases, but Jones said he will use the additional time to make sure the increases comply with federal and state laws. He noted that the rate requests come as many Californians are struggling through the recession and can’t afford them.
Aetna and Anthem Blue Cross each had submitted two proposed rate increases, beginning Jan. 1 and April 1. Each will be delayed 60 days from those dates. PacifiCare’s planned Jan. 1 increase will be delayed until April 1, the department said.
Blue Shield of California previously rejected Jones’ request for a delay of its 6 percent March 1 increase, its third since Oct. 1. The three increases will boost premiums an average 30 percent for the 200,000 customers who buy private insurance from Blue Shield. Some of its customers will pay 59 percent more in premiums cumulatively after the three increases.
