Children's Health Insurance Rates 4th Quarter

[somarco]

Aetna & Cigna have released 4th quarter rates for children and adults. So has KP, but they do not have comply with Obamacrap until January 2011.

Rates for children under age 1 are up 68% for Aetna, 65% for Cigna. Older children are up about 25%.

Neither will write child only plans.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

Interesting. I'd still like to know the max rate up if the child goes GI.

The rather extreme increase for children under 1 has to be for "free" preventative.

 

[somarco]

So far neither has updated their underwriting manual, so it would appear to be 50% for Cigna and 100% for Aetna.

Both carriers have had segregated, higher rates for ages 0 - 1 for some time and those rates are sky high.

 

[AllenChicago]

A mother gives birth and that newborn's premium for the first year is almost as much as the mother's premium? Wow.

 

[somarco]

Child under the age of 1 with a copay plan and a $2500 deductible is $545 per month. That is a standard rate. If the max rate is 100% then that's $1090 per month for a newborn.

If the mom is 20 and on the same plan her rate is $134 per month.

Thank you Obama.

 

[AllenChicago]

So let me get this straight.. Charging this much more for a child isn't a premium increase that's subject to being approved by a given state? It circumvents that procedure somehow?

The Government is way low on their estimates. The latest "rule" issued on this subject (page 10) says that the average premium for a child should be around $200 per month.

http://www.regulations.gov/search/R...aeca2b&disposition=attachment&contentType=pdf

It'll be interesting to see if the government takes measures to limit these child premiums once the deluge of complaints start flooding in. Thankfully, not every company's 4th quarter child premiums have increased so dramatically.
-A.C.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
OMG! I just ran an Aetna quote. Suburban Chicago for 10/1/10.
$1,500 Deductible + $1,500 Coinsurance = $3,000 Max OOP.

Male Age 58 with Male Child - Age 1.
Cost = $1,138.00 per month!!!

Male Age 58 with Child - Age 15.
Cost = $679.00 per month.

That young child premium is out of this world! I wonder would the premium for the one year old automatically decrease when the policy renews and he's age 2, or would the parent have to request that the surcharge (if that's what it is) be removed at that time??
-Allen

 

[somarco]

HHS can complain all they want, but for now at least, they lack regulatory authority over insurance rates.

Aetna, Cigna and a few others have charged higher rates for 0 - 1 children for a few years now. Until 4th quarter, Aetna had 1 rate for 0 - 1, a slightly lower rate for 1 - 2 and then a "bucket" rate for 3 - 18.

If you log in to Producer World you can see rate sheets for Aetna. They still have 3rd quarter rates as well as 4th quarter.

Premiums on children normally drop after age 1 on the renewal but with Obamacrap kicking in I don't expect these rates to hold so the drop may not be as noticeable on renewal.

Thankfully, not every company's 4th quarter child premiums have increased so dramatically.

Maybe your state is different, but we are 10 days away from the child health insurance deadline and only 3 carriers have published 4th Q rates.

Blue supposedly has approval but they are not revealing them until later this week during a "road show".

If UHC and H1 have new rates they aren't saying but H1 is supposed to be in town next week.

Surprisingly Celtic has 4th Q rates and it appears they will write child only coverage but that is unconfirmed. If the rates I am seeing are right, they look good. They are such a small player here I don't know how well they will work, but if they are essentially the only game in town it really doesn't matter.

Of course if they are the only one writing child only AND have reasonable rates that could sink them.

The next few weeks will be interesting.

 

[jbage007]

Children in their first year of life represent one of, if not the single highest risk factor for insurers. They should be rated higher.

Unless we no longer are selling "insurance" which historically has been based on risk assessment.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

Preventative alone is quite expensive if anyone remembers the numbers of shots and well baby visits.

 

[IndividualHealthGuy]

When I worked for Blue Cross Kansas City we stopped offering child only plans for under 2 year olds a few years back. The reason was we spent $1.50 for every $1 of premium we took in. Healthy newborns are expensive. Unwell newborns are more expensive than any other demographic you can think of. It was nothing to see claims for NICU charges that hit $200,000 per month.