Any excuse to bilk more money from a captive customer base.
Aetna Inc., some BlueCross BlueShield plans and other smaller carriers have asked for premium increases of between 1% and 9% to pay for extra benefits required under the law, according to filings with state regulators.
These and other insurers say Congress's landmark refashioning of U.S. health coverage, which passed in March after a brutal fight, is causing them to pass on more costs to consumers than Democrats predicted.
The rate increases largely apply to policies for individuals and small businesses and don't include people covered by a big employer or Medicare.
These increases only hit new policies, and not existing policies. Plus, small 1-2 percent rate increases were expected and the White House believes the state regulators will block the largest rate increases. But crap -- here are the new benefits from healthcare reform that these bastards are griping about:
...letting children stay on their parents' insurance policies until age 26, eliminating co-payments for preventive care and barring insurers from denying policies to children with pre-existing conditions, plus the elimination of the coverage caps.
Good people.