United, WellPoint, Aetna PPO HMO

October 10th, 2008 PPO Plans aetna, hmo, Managed Health care Market Report, ppo, united, wellpoint

Here are a few excerpts f rom the 2009 CRG premium rate survey, which will be published shortly in Managed Healthcare Market Report.

The city of Los Angeles expects overall premium rates to increase just 1.5% in 2009, after a 6% to 10% increase in 2008. Rates for an HMO and PPO from WellPoint’s Blue Cross of California are expected to remain unchanged. Kaiser HMO premiums are expected to rise about 3%.

About half of the city’s 78,000 lives are in the Kaiser HMO.The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (Sacramento, CA), said HMO premiums will increase 6.6% in 2009, after rising 7.4% in 2008. PPO rates will actually decline 0.04%. Overall premiums for 2009 will increase 4.3%, the lowest rate of increase in more than a decade.

Calpers, with 1.3 million covered lives, expects to spend about $5.7 billion on healthcare benefits in 2009.The State of Florida expects premiums to rise about 11% in 2009. The state, with more than 368,000 covered lives, offers a self-insured PPO administered by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida and HMOs from AvMed, Capital Health Plan Florida Health Care Plans, UnitedHealth and Vista.

The city of Indianapolis is expecting a 2009 premium decrease of about 4.3%, down from a 4% increase in 2008. The city, which covers 7300 active employees and 450 retirees, cut premiums by adding deductibles of $250 for inpatient services and $100 for brand prescriptions per individual to its fully funded HMO.

The Group Insurance Commission (Boston), which purchases health insurance for state employees, received a 6.4% rate increase for active employees for fiscal 2009, ending June 30. GIC, which covers about 300,000 lives, offers plans from Neighborhood, Health New England, Fallon, Harvard Pilgrim, Tufts and Unicare.

The City of St. Paul, MN, received a 9.5% rate increase in 2009, compared to an 18.5% increase in 2008. The city will also receive a 9.5% increase in 2010 as part of a guaranteed contract. The city offers three health plan options from HealthPartners, including two PPO options and a POS plan.

The city covers 2850 active employees and 2350 retirees.The State of Ohio, with more than 129,000 lives, is expecting a premium increase of 7% in 2009 after receiving a 1.5% increase in 2008. The state offers five plans: Ohio Med, Aetna, Paramount, The Health Plan, and United Healthcare.The Texas Employees’ Retirement System (Austin, TX) will see average monthly single HMO premiums increase about 5% in the fiscal year ending Aug. 31, 2009.