Regence started notifying all the enrollees/plan members that their premiums will go up 19% (Good LAWD that’s a lot of money!) in July. For some, depending on age, they’ll actually end up having a 40% increase after it’s all tallied up. Now Regence is not the only insurance going up, but theirs is the steepest jump. SERIOUSLY.
Regence BlueShield on Tuesday began notifying 137,000 individual-plan customers that their premiums are rising an average of 19 percent in July in the steepest increase for individual plans this year by a Washington health insurer.And for 16,000 of those enrollees, the rate increase will total 40 percent because they also happen to be moving into an older, more expensive age group.
The rate jump is a sharp change from last year, when Regence proposed — then rescinded — raising premiums by 5 percent. Since leaving the rates unchanged last July, Regence has gained 30,000 new customers, bringing its total individual members to 137,000.
The rate boost does not apply to people who buy their coverage through employer plans or small-group plans. But both Regence’s rate reversal last year and the size of this latest premium increase have outraged Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler, who accuses the insurer of a bait-and-switch.
Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse…it does. The news did a story to where Americans aren’t simply going across the border for meds, they are going across the pond to Europe for hospital care to include inpatient assistance. THAT IS BANANAS! *SMDH* I’m foreseeing a lot more incidents where “Get the ‘Tussin” is uttered, or perhaps medieval cures by witch doctors.
“Mom I broke my leg!! My bone’s sticking out and hand is lying parallel to my arm!!!”
“Get some dragon root from Rollo on Rainier Ave, the ‘Tussin, and some Motrin and you’ll be aight!”
