WASHINGTON - June 21 - "Today's new report (PDF) from the Health Care for America Now coalition presents evidence of market abuses by America’s health insurance industry. Over recent months, they have shed millions from their coverage roles and spent a lower portion of their revenue on actual medical care. Simultaneously, insurers' premiums climbed, not only faster than wages or inflation, but faster than insurance plans’ own spending on medical care.
“Dropping coverage, hiking rates, and skimping on benefits apparently aren't a last resort. They are a profitable business strategy which, according to the HCAN report, yielded record profits in 2009 and has put insurers on pace towards record profits again this year.
“Fortunately, the new health care law will, within the next few months, put an end to the worst of these abuses, by ending rescissions and pre-existing condition exclusions for children, and establishing new standards requiring insurers to spend 80 to 85 percent of our premium dollars on care, not overhead and corporate profits. For consumers, the new rules couldn't come a moment too soon."
U.S. PIRG, the federation of state Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs), stands up to powerful special interests on behalf of the American public, working to win concrete results for our health and our well-being. With a strong network of researchers, advocates, organizers and students in state capitols across the country, we take on the special interests on issues, such as product safety,political corruption, prescription drugs and voting rights,where these interests stand in the way of reform and progress.