Californians spent $250 million on excessive health premiums, group says

By Sharon Bernstein SACRAMENTO Calif. (Reuters) - Californians paid a quarter of a billion dollars in health insurance premiums during a 15-month period ended last year that were deemed excessive by state regulators, a consumer group said Wednesday. Santa Monica-based Consumer Watchdog, which released the figures on Wednesday, is pushing Proposition 45, a ballot initiative that would give regulators the power to reject rate increases determined to be excessive. "Patients are powerless against these rate increases," said Paul Song, a physician and activist based in Los Angeles who is working to support the ballot initiative. "This system has been deleterious to our patients." Using data from the California Department of Insurance and the California Department of Managed Healthcare, the organization said that from April 1, 2012 though November 1, 2013, regulators found $250 million worth of planned insurance increases for people who buy their own individual insurance policies to be unreasonable, the group said.



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