Pacific Business Group

The price of health insurance provided by employers rose a moderate 4% this year, a major survey shows, but experts warn that rates may climb higher next year. Annual insurance premiums for families increased 4%, on average, to $15,745, according to the survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research & Educational Trust. That was down from a 9% hike in 2011. Still, even modest increases in healthcare costs are difficult to absorb for many businesses and workers struggling to cope with a sluggish economy.

A Los Angeles consumer advocate Tuesday was named head of the Pacific Business Group on Health, a San Francisco nonprofit coalition that negotiates insurance plans for 400,000 workers at 30 major California companies. Peter Lee, who has been executive director of the Center for Health Care Rights in Los Angeles for the last five years, will become chief executive of the Pacific Business Group on Health on June 1, the coalition said.

A Los Angeles consumer advocate Tuesday was named head of the Pacific Business Group on Health, a San Francisco nonprofit coalition that negotiates insurance plans for 400,000 workers at 30 major California companies. Peter Lee, who has been executive director of the Center for Health Care Rights in Los Angeles for the last five years, will become chief executive of the Pacific Business Group on Health on June 1, the coalition said.

Coalition Obtains Rate Cuts: The Pacific Business Group, one of the nation's largest health insurance purchasing coalitions, has negotiated premium rollbacks averaging 4.3% with 15 major California health maintenance organizations. The private purchasing group said 13 of 15 HMOs agreed to reduce their rates. The new rates take effect in January and will affect about 330,00 employees and their families and about $400 million in annual medical premiums.

In a sign that health costs aren't climbing as fast as expected, an influential coalition of major California employers said Tuesday that it has negotiated an average increase of 1% in the cost of health insurance for its employees enrolled in HMOs for next year. The modest increase, negotiated by the Pacific Business Group on Health, is well below the U.S. inflation rate and significantly lower than the 4% to 6% increases that some experts have predicted for California employers for 1998.

Members of health care giant Kaiser Permanente and a small Northern California-based health plan are the most satisfied with their medical coverage, according to a survey by a group of major California employers. In an annual HMO "report card" released by the Pacific Business Group on Health, an insurance purchasing cooperative, Kaiser and Milpitas-based Lifeguard Inc. received grades of A for members' overall satisfaction with their health plan and with the plan's doctors.

Re "Measuring the HMOs," editorial, Oct. 3: In an attempt to set quality standards for itself, the health care industry created its own quality evaluation organization, the National Committee for Quality Assurance. With NCQA's very first survey, Blue Cross scored below standard. Blue Cross sued NCQA to prevent it from releasing this information to the public. Blue Cross insisted that it didn't want the results released, because the survey was flawed. I suspect the real reason was that they didn't want to lose market share.

If you've ever made an appointment with a new doctor, asked your old doctor to forward your medical records, then shown up for your office visit to find that the records never arrived, you're not alone. Medicine is renowned for its use of high-tech gadgetry to treat the sick. But it is surprisingly backward when it comes to collecting and sharing data about what happens at doctors' offices and hospitals or tracking how patients actually fare.

The price of health insurance provided by employers rose a moderate 4% this year, a major survey shows, but experts warn that rates may climb higher next year. Annual insurance premiums for families increased 4%, on average, to $15,745, according to the survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research & Educational Trust. That was down from a 9% hike in 2011. Still, even modest increases in healthcare costs are difficult to absorb for many businesses and workers struggling to cope with a sluggish economy.

Re "Measuring the HMOs," editorial, Oct. 3: In an attempt to set quality standards for itself, the health care industry created its own quality evaluation organization, the National Committee for Quality Assurance. With NCQA's very first survey, Blue Cross scored below standard. Blue Cross sued NCQA to prevent it from releasing this information to the public. Blue Cross insisted that it didn't want the results released, because the survey was flawed. I suspect the real reason was that they didn't want to lose market share.

If you've ever made an appointment with a new doctor, asked your old doctor to forward your medical records, then shown up for your office visit to find that the records never arrived, you're not alone. Medicine is renowned for its use of high-tech gadgetry to treat the sick. But it is surprisingly backward when it comes to collecting and sharing data about what happens at doctors' offices and hospitals or tracking how patients actually fare.

In a sign that health costs aren't climbing as fast as expected, an influential coalition of major California employers said Tuesday that it has negotiated an average increase of 1% in the cost of health insurance for its employees enrolled in HMOs for next year. The modest increase, negotiated by the Pacific Business Group on Health, is well below the U.S. inflation rate and significantly lower than the 4% to 6% increases that some experts have predicted for California employers for 1998.

Members of health care giant Kaiser Permanente and a small Northern California-based health plan are the most satisfied with their medical coverage, according to a survey by a group of major California employers. In an annual HMO "report card" released by the Pacific Business Group on Health, an insurance purchasing cooperative, Kaiser and Milpitas-based Lifeguard Inc. received grades of A for members' overall satisfaction with their health plan and with the plan's doctors.

Coalition Obtains Rate Cuts: The Pacific Business Group, one of the nation's largest health insurance purchasing coalitions, has negotiated premium rollbacks averaging 4.3% with 15 major California health maintenance organizations. The private purchasing group said 13 of 15 HMOs agreed to reduce their rates. The new rates take effect in January and will affect about 330,00 employees and their families and about $400 million in annual medical premiums.

In an unusual survey that asked doctor groups to voice their opinions about HMOs, PacifiCare and Health Net were rated the best health plans in California. Aetna U.S. Healthcare and Blue Cross of California were rated the worst HMOs overall, according to the survey released Tuesday by the Pacific Business Group on Health, an influential health insurance-purchasing consortium.

PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. said its PacifiCare of California unit entered a three-year agreement to provide health-maintenance organization coverage for members of the Pacific Business Group on Health, a business health coalition. Financial terms were not disclosed.