Insurer Anthem Blue Cross resents attempts to protect consumers from outrageous rate increases

The Foundation for Patient's Rights has a new ad up, highlighting the recent news of the astronomical latest rate increases (39%!) by big insurer Anthem in California. The ad will appear on cable TV and network television in DC through Sunday.

The profitable insurance company isn't apologizing for trying to price roughly 10% of its customers out of its coverage. In fact, Anthem is pretty eager to stop lawmakers' "obstruction tactics"--and just move ahead with the rate raises, already! [insert Napoleon Dynamite-esque exasperated "Gosh!" here]. Anthem president Leslie Margolin:

"We have wasted precious time and precious resources doing battle with each other. We must come together collaboratively and strategically to address the distressing symptoms of our troubled system -- rising premiums, for example -- and to address the fundamental underlying causes of our collective failure."

Anthem claims it's not that they wanted to hike premium rates--but the economy and higher health care costs forced their hand. If that was the case, then perhaps the insurer should've thought twice before they spent $27 million on company retreats in 2007 and 2008 at lavish resorts. And paid 39 of their execs each over $1 million last year. "I don't mind you making a profit, but at the end of the year 2009--a horrible year--you still made 2-point-something billion dollars, and that's not enough?" Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) remarked in yesterday's House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee hearing.

Refuting the giant insurer's excess hike rate justifications even further: the findings of a study released yesterday by the Center for American Progress Action Fund, which showed WellPoint Inc., owner of Anthem Blue Cross--a company that insures more Americans than any other--is pushing double-digit premium hikes in 11 states across the country.

Sadly, many customers who find their rates being dramatically increased don't have the option to shop around for a better plan for their buck. Why? Because a growing number of markets across the country are becoming dominated by one or two insurers--meaning consumers are simply SOL. According to a new report from the AMA,

In 24 of the 43 states reported on, the two largest insurers held a combined market share of 70 percent or more.

In 54 percent of metropolitan markets, at least one insurer had a market share of 50 percent or greater.

Making matters worse: even if a person can financially survive having their insurance rates hiked by 72%, as one man in Georgia recently experienced, that's not to say he wouldn't still lose out on his (extremely expensive) coverage down the road if he got sick or was dropped from his plan due to a "pre-existing condition."