Starting today. as a new requirement of the health care reform,  all health insurance carrier have to start publicly justifying any insurance premium rate hikes exceeding 10 percent, but it is questionable if this measure will improve the process to find  affordable health insurance in  Santa Monica.

The new rules will mandate that insurers post explanations of premium increases of over 10 percent on their websites and submit them to state and federal regulators. The new rules do not give state and federal regulators new authority to block rate hikes, even if the government will find the increases unjustified. Accordingly to a 2010 survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation over 30 states in the country have no authority to block rate hikes in the individual and small-group market.

This week, in California Assembly Bill  AB52, in which the state commissioner should have greater authority and carriers would be forced to rate regulation upon all Carriers that do business in California, collapsed in the State house. Critics of AB 52 declared that the bill does not address the actual cost drivers of health care at all, therefore it is  doing nothing to help lower the costs of health care. As of Wednesday, August 31, the author of AB 52 (Assemblyman Mike Feuer, D-Los Angeles) has postponed the bill for the remainder of this session. This most likely means that it will be shelved until next year’s legislative session.

The past two years have proven in California publishing excessive rate increases has helped to control the insurance market. Both carriers Anthem and Blue Shield revised their original rate increases once they received harsh critic in the press from  the public and the government. Nevertheless the most important thing is to find a way to control the actual cost drivers of health care.

In the meantime we can help you find affordable health insurance , evaluate the many choices you have in the insurance market and find the plan which best fits your family or business needs in  Santa Monica.