How does health insurance works – when insurance premium can generally increase?

3 Responses to “How does health insurance works – when insurance premium can generally increase?”

1. Katherine Says:
   June 9th, 2010 at 10:40 am

   This is not my answer. I cut and pasted the answer from "answers.healthinsurancefinders.com" and the author of the answer is 214Brianna. Please go to that website and see the question and answer in its original form.

   http://answers.healthinsurancefinders.com/Rate-Increase-New-Policy-Please-help-q938.aspx

   The following is 214Brianna’s answer to a question similar to your question on the website listed above. Click on link to see the question and answer.

   (quoted from 214Brianna) "Some insurance companies will guarantee your rate for a specified period of time, like maybe 6 or 12 months.

   However, unless you have this written guarantee, the insurance company is able to raise your rates whenever they wish.

   But, they don’t just raise the rates on your coverage.

   When they have a rate increases, that rate increase must be applied to every person that is currently insured under that health plan, and also to any new members wishing to enroll in that plan.

   Unlike auto insurance, the health insurance companies are prohibited by law from increasing your premium or canceling your coverage because of ecessive claims.

   To verify this, you can call your insurance company and act like a new prospective member.

   Have them give you the rate for the same plan you are on and you will see that the new premium for January applies to everybody.

   This is assuming that they did not charge you a higher premium when you enrolled because you had a pre-eisting condition or other risk factors, such as weight or smoking.

   In some states, anytime an insurance company wishes to increase health insurance rates, they must submit the new rates and a letter of justification to the state Department of Insurance.

   The Department of Insurance will usually regulate how often the insurance company raises rates. It is not common for you to have a rate increase more than once per year.

   The fact that the insurance company must apply any rate changes to all eisting plan members helps keep rate increases under control.

   They know that if they get too carried away with rate increases, they run the risk of losing their healthy members to other insurance companies."
   (end of quote – this answer/information is credited to 214Brianna on HIF website-click on link to see question and answer in its original form.).

   The above answer was cut and pasted from HIF web site with the person answering this question going by the name as 214Brianna.

   The website is: http://answers.healthinsurancefinders.com/Rate-Increase-New-Policy-Please-help-q938.aspx
   References :
   214Brianna on http://answers.healthinsurancefinders.com/Rate-Increase-New-Policy-Please-help-q938.aspx

2. Mark Says:
   June 9th, 2010 at 11:28 am

   Respectable insurers do not raise premiums based on claims from an individual. Most insurers only raise premiums on an entire class of insureds, say everyone with that same plan. If your insurance company is raising your premium based on a medical procedure, you may want to think about switching to someone else if that option is available.

   I’m a licensed health insurance agent. Here’s a question/answer directly relating to this.
   References :
   http://www.usa-online-health-insurance.com/individual-family-insurance.html#raised

3. brier pallante Says:
   June 9th, 2010 at 12:18 pm

   No. The premiums will not go up for that. Usually health insurance is up for renewal once a year and the cost increases at that time, but not just because you use your policy. The cost of group health insurance where I work has had double digit increases in the premiums every year for 10 years now. The health insurance companies are out of control.

   If you are looking for the cheapest or best health insurance quote in your area, check out this site

   http://Cheap-Health-Insurance-USA.info/

   It’s the best way to find an affordable health insurance with a reliable company
   References :

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