HCAN: Flagging Economy Doesn’t Dampen Health Insurers’ Excessive Profits
With Wall Street-Run Companies Headed for $14 Billion in Profits This Year, HCAN Calls for Immediate Rebates Under Affordable Care Act Guidelines.
HCAN to Health Insurers: Reduce Rates Now for Struggling Families and Businesses
Insurers, awash in billions of dollars in record profits and excess capital, should give consumers their money back.
HCAN Report: Analysis Shows Health Insurers Pocketed Huge Profits in 2010 Despite Weak Economy
This report shows that the five largest health insurers made combined profits of $11.7 billion by reducing the share of premiums spent on the shrinking membership in private health plans.
HCAN Report: Breaking the Bank: CEO’s from 10 Health Insurers Took More than $1 Billion in Compensation, Stock From 2000 to 2009
This report shows how the CEOs of the top 10 insurance companieshave received more thanone billion dollars in compensation over the last decade.
HCAN Report: Insurance Giants Reap Big Profits By Shedding Members, Spending Less on Medical Care
This report shows how the five largest for-profit health insurance
companies cashed in on excessive rate hikes to push first-quarter
profits sharply higher while shedding members and spending less on care.
HCAN Report: New Federal Health Law’s Insurance Premium Rules Will Control Costs for Families, Businesses
Industry Trying to Undercut Congress, Weaken Provision Worth $1.9 Billion to Customers
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), signed into law by President Obama on March 23, 2010, represents an historic step toward ending the insurance industry’s stranglehold on our health care, eliminating the worst insurance company abuses and guaranteeing that all Americans have quality and accessible health care they can afford.
The law requires that insurers meet a benchmark medical-loss ratio (MLR) – the minimum percentage of premium revenue that must be spent on medical care. Insurers must spend on medical care at least 80 percent of health plan premiums collected from individuals and small employers and 85 percent of premiums from large employers, or rebate the difference to enrollees.
If the new law had been on the books in 2009, the six largest for-profit health insurance companies would have been required to refund $1.9 billion in that year alone, according to a report by a Wall Street analyst.
- This rebate would have represented only a small portion of their ever-growing profits. The top five for-profit health insurers alone recorded $12.2 billion in profits in 2009.
The MLR requirement will provide public information and a consistent benchmark for consumers to use in judging the relative value of different health plans.
- Today, there is significant variation in MLRs among and within insurance companies based on geography, market and product, with MLRs ranging from 94 to 33 percent. (See report Tables 2, 3, 4 and 5).
The long-term success of minimum MLR standards in improving insurance value will be determined by regulators’ ability to defeat insurers’ transparent attempts to restore the old status quo.
America’s Health Insurance Plans, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and their member insurers have two goals:
- Redefine MLRs by pressuring the National Association of Insurance Commissioners to give insurers vast discretion over what expenses they may classify as clinical and administrative costs.
- Already, Wellpoint has reclassified $500 million in administrative costs as medical expenses, which will raise its corporate-wide MLR by 1.7 percentage points without improving the value of insurance plans.
- Craft as many exceptions, transitions, and delays as possible to avoid meeting the new minimums – even the meager compromised standards that insurers seek.
Download the full report [pdf]
HCAN Report: Consumers to Health Insurance Industry – Stop Lying About Big Premium Hikes
This report shows how the insurers and their allies are falsely blaming the new health care law to justify their ourageous premium increases.
HCAN Report: Insurance Giants Reap Big Profits By Shedding Members, Spending Less on Medical Care
This report shows how the five largest for-profit health insurance companies cashed in on excessive rate hikes to push first-quarter profits sharply higher while shedding members and spending less on care.
HCAN Report: Federal Health Reform Provides Critical Long-Term Help to States
RESIDENTS AND GOVERNMENTS of the 50 states and the District of Columbia will receive $900.8 billion in new federal funding for health coverage over the next decade under federal health reform legislation that will extend coverage to 32 million Americans who now go uninsured. The legislation consists of two bills: the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590), which was signed into law on March 23, 2010, and the Reconciliation Act of 2010 (H.R. 4872), which is pending final action by Congress.
HCAN Report: Health Insurers Falsely Claim Rising Costs Justify Soaring Premiums
Growth of provider payments falls well short of health plan rate hikes;Private insurers spent $716 billion on profits, overhead from 2000 to 2008.
Download the Report. (PDF)
Report: House Health Reform Legislation Will Save Millions of Dollars For Hospitals
Currently, hospitals in certain Congressional Districts do not get paid
for millions of dollars worth of care they provide to the uninsured.
That erodes hospitals’ profit margins, making it harder for them to
operate. The health reform legislation under consideration in the House
of Representatives would change this.Click here for reports on how much hospitals would save in select Congressional Districts
HCAN Report: States to get Big Financial Boost from Health Care Reform
Proposed legislation would give 50 states and DC $849 billion in new federal funding for health coverage with minimal match; State-by- state charts break down flow of much-needed funds.
HCAN Report: Big Insurers Break Profit Records
Big Insurers Break Profit Records By Shedding Members, Cutting Share of Premiums Spent on Medical Care – Press Release 2/11/10
Report from the Main Street Alliance: National Minimum Medical Loss Ratio Would Save Tens of Billions of Dollars For Businesses, Individuals
Report: Millions to Gain Health Security From New Surcharge on Millionaires
This state-by-state table shows how many households will be affected by the surcharge and how many uninsured people will gain coverage as a result by 2013.
Report: State by State – We Can’t Afford to Wait for Health Care Reform
Report on the state of health care for the citizens of AK, AR, CT, LA, ME, MO, MT, and NE.
Report: Medical benefit ratios of private insurers, public Medicare plan, 1993 to 2007
Report on the percentage of federal Medicare benefit outlays spent on medical care compared with percentage of premium revenue spent on medical care by investor-owned private insurance companies.
Report: Kennedy HELP Bill Makes Good Health Care More Affordable Than Senate Finance Bill
The U.S. Senate is preparing to debate health care reform legislation. In fashioning the bill that goes to the floor, Senate leaders will be choosing from the two bills that passed the committees of jurisdiction One of the bills will make health care affordable to families; the other bill falls far short. This report explains how that choice will affect families in each state and the District of Columbia.
Insurance Company Reports
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Salaries Report: Total Compensation for CEOs of Major Health Insurers, 2000 – 2008 (in millions)
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Health Insurance Company Abuse: How the Relentless Drive For Profit Endangers Americans
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Profit Report: Net Income of Major U.S. Health Insurers, 2000 – 2008 (in millions)
Report: Unequal Lives – Health Care Discrimination Harms Communities of Color
Report: Private Insurance Mergers Lead to Near-Monopolies Across the Country
- Press Release
- Full National Report: Premiums Soaring in Consolidated Health Insurance Market:Lack of Competition Hurts Rural States, Small Businesses (PDF Updated July 15)
- State Reports
