Last week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it had approved a reinsurance proposal in Wisconsin and Maine in an effort to keep health premiums down. Reinsurance is essentially insurance for insurers: The government helps pay for the cost of exceptionally high-cost claims.
It’s no wonder states have been working on innovative ways to keep premiums affordable for their residents. It seems each day we hear of yet another state announcing double digit premium increases for health insurance: 11 percent in Kentucky, 19 percent in Washington, and a whopping 24 percent in New York. These are just the proposed rates; increases won’t be made final until immediately before the midterm elections.
Sixty-five percent of Americans reported in a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll that they are “very concerned” about the overall cost of health care — particularly insurance premiums, deductibles, and copays. Rising health care costs affects all Americans: A majority of millennials and baby boomers, whites and minorities, and Democrats and Republicans all reported concerns about increasing costs.
