MPR reports on the rising insurance rates:
Insurers have seen short-time policy holders drop their coverage and stop paying premiums after completing expensive medical treatments, said Schowalter, a former Minnesota budget commissioner.
Which defeats the purpose of insurance — which is to pool the resources and pay the costs of those who incur them from the group. But I suppose those doing that think they’re being smart; it might not hurt to announce that those folks will be remembered and placed in more expensive plans in the future. Even if they don’t actually follow through.
He also said there is evidence people in government health coverage are being steered into the private insurance market because their providers will get paid more that way. “That’s a serious concern that state regulators have been looking at as well as federal regulators.
This is opaque to me.
Since 2014, two carriers have pulled out of Minnesota’s individual market after suffering heavy losses. Those that remain have average premium hikes ranging from 50 to 67 percent, depending on the carrier. Most have limited the number of people they’ll cover.
Limiting the number of people they’ll cover … given how insurance works, either I don’t understand something or that’s madness.
Minnesota insurers underpriced their products initially to capture a bigger share of the individual market Wagner said. But since the federal Affordable Care Act changes took effect in 2014 they’ve collectively lost hundreds of millions of dollars on individual and family coverage.
So where does this money go? MPR’s expert, health economist Jean Abraham, closes the report with a warning:
