Highmark cites public pressure in scaling back Special Care rate hike, but the fight’s not over!

With your help, PHAN was able to deliver over 2,700 petition signatures to Governor Corbett’s Insurance Commissioner urging him to hold a public hearing before approving Highmark’s request to raise rates by 9.9% on Special Care. Special Care is the plan “offered” to folks who lost adultBasic--a plan that already cost 400% what adultBasic did, while limiting people to just 4 doctors’ visits a year! 

It’s always infuriating to see insurance companies--especially “non-profit” insurers with billions of dollars in surplus--raising their rates and forcing more working families to drop coverage because of the cost. But this increase is especially outrageous as it’s hitting folks who lost adultBasic with two rate increases in less than six months. Highmark is putting the screws to working Pennsylvanians who are barely making ends meet at a time when they’re doing better than ever--sitting on $3.4 billion in surplus, and having taken in $1 billion more in revenue last year than the one before. 

You thought that was wrong, and an outrage--and you stood with us to send a clear message to the Insurance Commissioner and Highmark that this rate increase in unacceptable. Message received!

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported on Saturday that Highmark is planning to scale back its increase from 9.9% to 4.9%. Highmark spokesman Michael Weinstein said: “We had heard a lot of concerns in the community about that issue. We listened to the concerns of the community and asked the department for a lesser increase." 

This is an important and positive development--but it’s not the end of this fight. PHAN remains opposed to any increase in Special Care rates. We believe that Highmark is lowering their increase in an attempt to avoid a public hearing, where they’d have to answer tough questions on how they’re using their revenues and prove that this increase is actually needed. If Highmark didn’t really need a 9.9% increase, why did they request one? Why will 4.9% work, all of a sudden? If anything, this last-minute reduction of the planned increase shows how arbitrary these numbers are--and it shows why we need real hearings whenever an insurer wants to raise the rates. 

Even though the period to submit public comment to the Insurance Department is closed, we will continue gathering petitions and letters calling on Governor Corbett to push his Insurance Commissioner, Michael Consedine, to hold a public hearing before approving this rate increase. October 19th is the latest date the Commissioner can rule, so time is short and we need you to act now. 

Here’s what we need you to do:

Get your legislators involved! Contact your state senator and representative and tell them you want them to do everything they can to make sure Governor Corbett’s Insurance Commissioner holds a public hearing before approving this rate hike. Tell them you strongly oppose any increase in Special Care rates and that you think working people deserve a chance to stand up to these kinds of rate increases. The Insurance Department should be a watchdog for the people, not a rubber stamp for the industry. Too many people and small businesses are dropping coverage because they can’t absorb these rate hikes year after year--if we had public hearings, and could shine a light on how rates are set and approved, we could start to reign in those out-of-control costs. 

Call the Governor and his staff to let them know you oppose this rate hike and demand a public hearing before it’s approved. Tell him he’s already done enough damage by cutting adultBasic, and that working people need to have somewhere to turn for affordable coverage. Tell him to start looking out for Pennsylvania families instead of the billion-dollar “non-profit” health insurance companies who are lining their pockets by gouging us all on the rates. 

Governor Corbett’s Harrisburg Office

• (717) 787-2500
• Governor@pa.gov or this email contact form

Governor Corbett’s Pittsburgh Office

• Deputy Regional Office Director: Robert Johnson
• (814) 565-5770
• rjjohnson@state.pa.us

Governor Corbett’s Erie Office

• Regional Office Director: David Mitchell
• (814) 878-5719

Contact us if you lost adultBasic or have Special Care to share your story. It is critical that we keep showing the real people who have been/stand to be further hurt by Highmark raising the rates. Legislators need to hear your voices, especially! 

We’ll keep you posted as things develop. Thank you for all your support--let’s take this as a shot in the arm and keep fighting until we stop this rate hike!