Fifty percent of California voters have difficulty affording health care, and 73% say insurance costs are the most difficult to afford, according to a survey by Consumer Watchdog. Consumer Watchdog is pushing a ballot measure that would enable the Insurance Commissioner to reject any rate increase that he feels is too high.
Health insurance premiums rose 170% in the last decade, more than five times the 31.5% rate of inflation over the same period, according to the California HealthCare Foundation. In recent years, consumers’ health insurance premiums continued to rise in the double digits even as medical spending slowed. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said in January that health spending increased just 3.9% in 2011, a record low pace of growth for the third year in a row. The Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index said the cost of medical care services increased just 3.7% in 2012.
The Health Insurance Rate Public Justification and Accountability act is modeled after California’s successful insurance reform law, Proposition 103, which regulates auto, home and business insurance rates and requires insurers to get approval for rate increases. For more information, visithttp://www.consumerwatchdog.org
