Insurance Premiums

The Obama administration's new plan to stimulate refinancings of FHA mortgages is likely to help large numbers of homeowners — even those who are deeply underwater — cut their monthly costs by switching to a loan with a rate below 4%. Here's a quick overview of the "streamline refi" program and what it will take for you to qualify. First, the baseline criteria: Your current home loan must be FHA-insured and must have been put on the Federal Housing Administration's books no later than May 31, 2009.

WASHINGTON -- U.S. consumers and businesses will receive an estimated $1.3 billion in rebates from insurance companies this year, according to a new study quantifying a key early benefit of the healthcare law that President Obama signed in 2010. That will translate into anywhere from a few dollars to more than $150 for some 15 million consumers nationwide, the new report by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation found. Obama's healthcare law requires insurers to spend a minimum portion of customers' premiums on medical care, a provision championed by consumer groups concerned that companies were hiking premiums to pay for executive salaries, shareholder dividends and other expenses unrelated to their customers' care.

I want to apologize to President Obama. But first, some background. I found out three weeks ago I have cancer. I'm 49 years old, have been married for almost 20 years and have two kids. My husband has his own small computer business, and I run a small nonprofit in the San Fernando Valley. I am also an artist. Money is tight, and we don't spend it frivolously. We're just ordinary, middle-class people, making an honest living, raising great kids and participating in our community, the kids' schools and church.

My wife and I arrived as legal immigrants from Canada four years ago at the age of 63 to be closer to our three children. Having lived in Canada most of our lives, we never contributed to Medicare. Right now I am self-employed and have a small-business health plan through Kaiser. The premiums have escalated from $450 per month to $1,228 per month, with a very high deductible. I am afraid we may have to return to Canada, where we enjoyed free health care. I am sure that many parents who join their children in the U.S. are in the same situation and would like to know what other options are available.

California's largest for-profit health insurer is moving to dramatically raise rates for customers with individual policies, setting off a furor among policyholders and prompting state insurance regulators to investigate. Anthem Blue Cross is telling many of its approximately 800,000 customers who buy individual coverage -- people not covered by group rates -- that its prices will go up March 1 and may be adjusted "more frequently" than its typical yearly increases. The insurer declined to say how high it is increasing rates.

Health insurance premiums continue to dominate the healthcare debate -- and consumers' questions about why they continue to rise. The experts at the Hartford Courant started a conversation on the topic last week; they'll continue it Thursday with a Web chat examining the issue in even greater depth. The previous live Web chat Dec. 2 raised so many issues about insurance premiums and how they are set that the paper decided to continue the online discussion 9 a.m. PST on Thursday.

Californians who bemoan high insurance premiums may not have it as bad as they think. It turns out that people in other states pay a lot more for health coverage. A new analysis of individual insurance markets across the country shows that Californians paid $157 a month on average for coverage in 2010. Nationally, individual policyholders paid an average of $215 a month, according to the study by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation. The least expensive state was Alabama.

Health insurance premiums are on the rise – again. But why? Here are some experts who can help sort it out. Join us for a live Web chat Thursday about insurance premiums with Matthew C. Katz, executive vice president of the Connecticut State Medical Society, and Jackie Aube, CIGNA Corp. vice president of product development. The online discussion begins at 9 a.m. PST. Rising costs leave many people feeling that their health safety net is starting to fray, as this Chicago Tribune story says.

Some insurance premiums have risen as much as 200% and some insurance firms are refusing to provide coverage for businesses in the vicinity of the gas explosion that injured 24 people, destroyed a discount clothing store and caused closure of 150 Fairfax district shops last March, according to Los Angeles City Councilman John Ferraro. "I can understand . . . premiums going up to some extent," said Ferraro, "but I object to redlining or denying insurance to this area because of the explosion."

The unavailability and high cost of insurance is becoming a crisis for the California home-building industry, according to the California Building Industry Assn. Mick Pattinson, head of the group and president of San Diego-based Barratt American, told state lawmakers at a legislative hearing that only a handful of insurance companies are selling liability policies to builders and contractors. He said premiums have risen 30% to 100% and, in some cases, even more in the past year.

This post has been updated. See below. It takes a certain amount of chutzpah to name a group that opposes government oversight of health  insurance premiums " Californians Against Higher Healthcare Costs . " Especially when the group includes the trade associations for doctors and hospitals, two sets of Californians who've contributed mightily to the high cost of healthcare. But it takes at least twice that amount of nerve, plus no small amount of irony, for the group to put out a press release accusing the other side of being funded by "special interests that will directly benefit from its passage.

Like most Americans, Lauren Woodard has mixed feelings about President Obama's healthcare law. She's glad the law guarantees that she'll always be able to get insurance. But she doesn't like the requirement that most Americans buy coverage. "I don't want the government telling me that I have to buy something," the 23-year-old mother from western Massachusetts said. Two-thirds of Americans share that view. So did Obama when he was a candidate. But most Americans also like the idea that they'll be able to get medical insurance, even if they sustain a devastating accident or a serious illness.

If you're considering buying a house with an FHA mortgage and expect the seller to help out with your closing costs, here's a heads-up: The Federal Housing Administration plans to impose significant restrictions on the amount of money that sellers can contribute at closing in the near future. On top of that, the FHA also will be raising its mortgage insurance premiums during the coming weeks, increasing charges for new purchasers across the board. You might ask, why hit us with additional financial burdens right now, just as housing is showing modest signs of recovery in many areas and the spring buying season is getting underway?

California's largest health insurers are raising average rates by about 8% to 14% for hundreds of thousands of consumers with individual coverage, outpacing the costs of overall medical care. The cost of goods and services associated with medical care grew just 3.6% over the last 12 months nationally, government figures show. But insurance premiums have kept climbing at a faster pace in California. Insurers defended their rate hikes, saying they are based on their claims experience with the customers they insure and not just the broader rate of medical inflation.

Though its demise drew little attention because of the partisan year-end brawl over the payroll tax cut extension in Congress, a key mortgage financing benefit disappeared at the end of December: the ability of large numbers of home buyers and owners to write off the premiums they pay for mortgage insurance. The loss of that tax deduction — plus mandatory new fees imposed by Congress on all new conventional and FHA loans — could effectively increase the costs of homeownership this year.

I want to apologize to President Obama. But first, some background. I found out three weeks ago I have cancer. I'm 49 years old, have been married for almost 20 years and have two kids. My husband has his own small computer business, and I run a small nonprofit in the San Fernando Valley. I am also an artist. Money is tight, and we don't spend it frivolously. We're just ordinary, middle-class people, making an honest living, raising great kids and participating in our community, the kids' schools and church.

The Times in recent months has done a considerable disservice to its readers in publishing a continuing series of articles that all carry the same theme: "Our cities cannot afford their insurance premiums due to 'high jury awards and the doctrine known as deep pockets.' " Typical of articles being printed by The Times are interviews with one city manager after another, all of whom are quoted by The Times as saying that "we are being charged exorbitant premiums and we have been told by our insurance carriers that the premiums are due to 'high jury awards and the doctrine known as deep pockets.

Cutting the costs of claims is the only way to reduce automobile insurance premiums paid by Californians, according to a state Department of Insurance survey. The study, based on analysis of about 40,000 claims paid last year by the state's 11 largest auto insurers, concluded that between 1985 and 1989, for every dollar of insurance premiums paid, auto insurance firms in the state earned an average of $1.07 in revenue.

The Obama administration called on a health insurance company to reduce a planned rate increase in Pennsylvania, using a tool in the new healthcare law for the first time to pressure insurers to restrain rising premiums. Officials at the Department of Health and Human Services said Monday that Everence Insurance Co.'s plan to raise rates by 12% next year on about 5,000 people who work for small businesses in Pennsylvania was "unreasonable. " That rate is not justified by what the insurer was expected to pay out in medical claims in the state, said Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

The Obama administration Monday called on a health insurance company in Pennsylvania to reduce what it is charging small businesses, using a tool in the new healthcare law for the first time to pressure insurers to restrain rising premiums. Officials at the Department of Health and Human Services determined that Everence Insurance Co.'s plan to raise rates on about 5,000 people in Pennsylvania by nearly 12% next year is unreasonable. That rate is not justified by what the insurer was expected to pay out in medical claims in the state, said Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius.