[MedicalConspiracies] Insurance rates are going up (With NO Limits) they are making HUGE profits!

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From: Consumers Union <action@consumer.org>
Date: Tue, Aug 10, 2010 at 8:56 AM

How much is too much? When it comes to the amount health insurance companies make off us, the sky may be the limit. Consumers Union did some digging and found that in the past decade, nonprofit Blue Cross Blue Shield plans squirreled away surpluses of more than $32 billion, even as some plans raised customers' premiums 20 percent a year! The new health reform law is targeting these excesses by having states review all rate increases sought by insurance companies. But industry is trying to get around the law by going state by state to water down these reviews so they can keep raking in huge surplus profits! Tell your Washington officials to keep premiums down and make sure we get real medical value for our insurance dollars! Our new report shows how some nonprofit plans already have plenty of money to protect them from financial losses and may not need those big rate hikes they seek year after year. For example, our investigation of 10 nonprofit Blue Cross plans found some have seven times the minimum surplus regulators say is needed. And they've been steadily building up these profits. In just the past eight years, these plans have doubled what they've socked away from $4.6 billion to more than $9 billion! If insurance companies are holding surplus profits that aren't needed for financial protection, then the funds should be returned to customers, or at the very least, be used to hold down rate hikes. Health reform gave states more resources to review these rate requests and crack down on unnecessary rate hikes -- let's get them to do it. Email our report to your state officials, and urge them to start holding insurance companies accountable! We're ramping up an all-out effort to get state lawmakers and insurance commissioners to dig into companies' books and make sure premiums are fair for you. We should all know 'how much is too much' when it comes to our health insurance rates. DeAnn Friedholm PrescriptionforChange.org, a project of Consumers Union 1101 17th Street NW, Suite 500 Washington, DC 20036