Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
[HHS Secretary Sebelius] Welcome to HealthReform.gov.
Earlier this month, California families got another reminder of why we need to reform
our broken health insurance system.
Beneficiaries of the state’s largest health insurance company got letters in the mail
announcing that in 2010 their premiums would go up as much as 39 percent.
What makes these rate hikes harder to take is that just a week earlier, Anthem’s parent
company, WellPoint, had announced more than $2.7 billion in profits from the most recent
quarter.
Unfortunately, as a new report from my department shows, these increases are far too common.
Over the last year, America’s largest insurance companies have requested premium increases
of 56 percent in Michigan, 24 percent in Connecticut, 23 percent in Maine, 20 percent in Oregon,
and 16 percent in Rhode Island, just to name a few states.
These increases have left thousands of families that are already struggling during the economic
downturn with an unpleasant choice between fewer benefits, higher premiums, or having
no insurance at all.
These hard-working families deserve better.
That’s why last year, we began a push for health insurance reform.
Under reform, Americans who have insurance will get the security and stability that comes
from knowing their insurance has to cover basic preventive care and can’t be cancelled
when they get sick.
And Americans without insurance will get access to a new, consumer-friendly health insurance
market where everybody will be able to find affordable coverage.
In the last 12 months, we’ve already made incredible progress towards achieving these
reforms. Now, we have to finish the job.
•That’s why on February 25th, President Obama is bringing together Democrats and Republicans
to talk about how to achieve reform.
With 39 percent premium hikes being piled on top of all the other worries Americans
have these days, we can’t afford to ignore any good ideas. But we also can’t afford
any politically-motivated delays.
We need to give American families some good news this spring and pass health insurance
reform that will put them and their doctors back in charge of their health care decisions.
Thank you for visiting healthreform.gov. And be sure to check back often for our latest
updates.