Denver Business Journal
April 8, 2004
United Healthcare violating insurance law, says NFIB
The National Federation of Independent Business accused United Healthcare Thursday of violating new state laws governing the cost of insurance for small businesses.
HB 1164 allows insurers for the first time to charge healthy groups up to 15 percent less for their health insurance. Unhealthy groups — those with more medical claims — will pay up to 10 percent more, but not until later this year. At that time, insurers can also offer discounts of up to 25 percent for healthy groups.
NFIB says the law allows insurers to discount groups by up to 15 percent, but United did not offer discounts of more than 6 percent if the group included five or fewer workers.
“We were convinced that small employers would be penalized for being small under the new rating flexibility legislation. This action has proved employers’ worst fears have been realized,” NFIB State Director Tim Jackson said.
United Healthcare CEO Victor Lazzaro said… “We are extending discounts that we believe are actuarially appropriate and in line with regulations and laws as written.”
http://denver.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2004/04/05/daily39.html
Comment: The National Federation of Independent Business and United Healthcare are both quite willing to sacrifice access to affordable care for those with significant needs, in exchange for benefiting the majority who are healthy. Isn’t it time to take the control of our health care system away from these private entities that place their own interests above those of patients with health care needs?
A publicly owned system of funding health care would be designed to ensure that those with needs would have affordable access to care. Isn’t that the way it should be, or am I missing something here?