PA House Insurance Committee Holds Hearing on Health Insurance Rate Hikes

The PA House Insurance Committee at the urging of Rep. Tony DeLuca (D-Penn Hills) convened a public hearing to listen to constituents’ concerns and frustrations over recent rate hikes by Highmark and other local insurance companies and search for answers. Over 100 advocates, individuals, families and small business owners packed a room at the Penn Hills library to share their stories and urge legislators to take the lead in cracking down on seemingly arbitrary, discriminatory and excessive rate hikes that have led many of them to forgo getting needed care or drop coverage altogether.

While the stories of those who testified and the specifics of their battles with Highmark varied, some common threads emerged that were able to shine a light on some glaring abuses that need to be addressed. Here are just a few examples from the hearing on how the lack of effective regulation and lack of competition in Pennsylvania’s insurance market hurts individuals, families and especially small business:

William S., a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) who employs himself and an assistant has seen the premiums for their plan double (up 96%) over the past four years. He’s now forced with dropping coverage and going without care, or raising prices and going without business.

Carolyn Franks, who runs Franks Auto Service with her husband, saw the cost of their family’s health insurance shoot from 5K/yr to 31K/yr since 2000 with less coverage and higher out of pocket costs. Now, he works over 60 hours/week and spends the rest of his time anxiety-ridden over finances, and she worries about his health and the impact on their family.

In addition to sharing their stories, those who testified also called for greater legislative and regulatory scrutiny of insurance company rate hikes. They urged the Insurance Committee to look at creating a consumer advocate position within the Pennsylvania Insurance Department, called for the Insurance Commissioner to have greater authority to investigate and crack down on excessive rate hikes and “health profiling” by insurance companies, and stressed the importance of transparency and clear standards in determining insurance rates.

Rep. DeLuca pledged that this was just the beginning of the conversation, and that the House Insurance Committee would continue to gather information with the goal of bringing meaningful reform to insurance company bad practices. It’s not clear exactly how we’ll get there, but what is clear is that your stories and personal struggles obtaining quality, affordable care for your family or business will make all the difference.

If you have been hard-hit by Highmark’s rate hikes or have had to drop or reduce your family or businesses health insurance plan, please get in touch and share your story. It really does make all the difference.

Stay tuned for a recap of Wednesday’s hearing on what federal health reform will mean for Pennsylvania and remember to follow @pahealthaccess on Twitter for live coverage of these and other important policy hearings in the future.