A First!
1 December 2012
Dear Congresswoman Pelosi,
I am a 45 year old man and I have never written to a government official before, but with the latest insurance increase I received from Anthem Blue Cross last week, I feel that it is time to speak out. Over the past decade my PPO insurance rate has increased astronomically. I have had to downgrade my policy several times just to be able to hold onto my health insurance in case of catastrophe, as it does not help me at all for normal health problems. I have not even seen a general physician in over 5 years because I cannot afford the cost. In November 2007, I had a cracked rib and went to my doctor. The x-rays were hundreds of dollars and the basic blood work was over $1500. At the time I was working a barely over minimum wage job and eventually, after months of paperwork and letters, my blood work bill was paid for by a charity because I could not afford to pay it. At that time I found out that I have extremely high blood pressure, my cholesterol count is off the charts, and I am borderline diabetic. I took medications for the blood pressure until they ran out, but I couldn't afford to go back for anymore blood work r tests for my multiple health issues..
Last year my insurance premium as of February 1st was $566. Anthem sent me a letter saying that my premium was going up 19.4% to $676 as of May 1, 2012 and my co-pay was increasing from $40 to $45 an office visit. Last week I received a letter from Anthem increasing my premium 21.6%, from $676 to $822. That is the second increase in 9 months, for a total of 45.2%. I cannot afford this and I am going to have to lower my coverage even more. I have to mention another thing to show my example of how Anthem Blue Cross is “raping” their customers. In February 2010 my premium was $420, and has increased in February 2013 to $822. That means over a three year period, my premium increased 196%. Even though they never had to pay out a penny on my behalf. Our business survived the Great Recession, but our income didn’t increase 200%. How is it legally allowed, let alone ethically, to take advantage of a customer that badly?
Anthem continually uses the reasons of "Increased consumer demandfor services"
"rising medical and prescription drug costs"
"advances in medical technology"
to increase their premiums. I keep paying more and more but don't use any of the services that I am being charged for.Yes, I did receive a check for $3 last month as a return from Anthem as required by law for whatever reason. My husband doesn't even have health insurance because the cost is so high. I know that legally the health insurers are not regulated, and can raise their rates however much they want, but being a small business owner in this weak economy is hard enough to survive without being raked over the coals for health insurance. If I tried to raise my prices 45% in less than a year, I would lose every customer I have. The insurance companies have a stranglehold on their customers. They can't just "shop around" for better buys. I believe that almost every person over the age of 40 has some sort of pre-existing condition and the insurance companies exploit that to there full advantage.
As a tax payer, a small business owner, and as a citizen, I ask you to please look into this matter. I saw on the news that people feel that Anthem Blue Cross, and the other insurers, are simply trying to raise their rates as much as possible, to make as much profit as possible, before "Obamacare" takes full effect. I have to say that I agree with those people.
I have e-mailed and sent hard copies of my letter to President Obama, Congresswoman Pelosi, Senator Feinstein and Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones. I am just sooo fed up with this bullshit!!!
I really don't believe that anything will be done, but at least I am not being complacent and letting Anthem Blue Cross know that I am unsatisfied with them enough to try and do something about it.