Dearborn, MI - Congressman John D. Dingell (D-MI15) made the following remarks after Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius released a new report on health insurance premium increases. The report, titled “Insurance Companies Prosper, Families Suffer: Our Broken Health Insurance System,” came out after Anthem Blue Cross announced its intentions to raise rates on its California customers by as much as 39 percent.
“This report should not surprise anyone. There will be those who blame the recession and regulation and try to paint these insurers as overburdened good Samaritans promoting free enterprise while protecting the public’s health and well-being. Those defending the companies just gloss over the lack of competition, the failure to contain costs, the obscene rate hike requests that exceed the rise of medical inflation – all standard business operations for insurers that have our nation verging on economic calamity. Without health care reform that protects the American people’s hard-earned money from simply adding to record profits and covering astronomical overhead costs, the companies will continue to conduct business as usual – hiking premiums, shrinking benefits, laying off mid-level employees, handing out fat checks to executives and lobbyists.”
# # #
