Comments on: Why Are Health Premiums Increasing at a Higher Rate in MA than in the Rest of the Nation? A Question, Not an Answer… http://blog.hcfama.org/2007/09/11/why-are-ma-premiums-increasing-at-a-higher-rate-than-the-rest-of-the-nation-a-question-not-an-answer/ The Ultimate Massachusetts Health Care Insider Information Mon, 13 Feb 2012 20:02:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Pat http://blog.hcfama.org/2007/09/11/why-are-ma-premiums-increasing-at-a-higher-rate-than-the-rest-of-the-nation-a-question-not-an-answer/#comment-1058 Mon, 24 Sep 2007 23:51:42 +0000 http://blog.hcfama.org/?p=1168#comment-1058 Insurance works on the law of large numbers and there must be competition.
If you have guaranteed issue policies, you will experience adverse selection and the costs will escalate

]]> By: an actuary http://blog.hcfama.org/2007/09/11/why-are-ma-premiums-increasing-at-a-higher-rate-than-the-rest-of-the-nation-a-question-not-an-answer/#comment-1057 Wed, 12 Sep 2007 16:18:53 +0000 http://blog.hcfama.org/?p=1168#comment-1057 Comparing the increases is like apples and oranges. The health plan numbers represent the premium increase assuming no change in benefits. The Kaiser numbers include premium reductions resulting from changes in employee cost sharing (copays, deductibles, etc.) that employers make to their benefit plans in order to keep their costs down.

]]> By: MCC is a tax http://blog.hcfama.org/2007/09/11/why-are-ma-premiums-increasing-at-a-higher-rate-than-the-rest-of-the-nation-a-question-not-an-answer/#comment-1056 Tue, 11 Sep 2007 17:18:43 +0000 http://blog.hcfama.org/?p=1168#comment-1056 2 reasons.

Guarantee issue.

Lack of competition.

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