Thanks to Obamacare, residents in California will be paying between 22 percent and 88 percent more for their health care premiums, the state insurance commissioner reported.
The rate increases vary, based on age and where the plan participant lives, Newsmax reported. And now, Democratic Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones is using those predictions to press for more regulatory control on the industry, saying Proposition 45 — a measure he’s trying to get on the ballot for November — would let his office clamp down on insurance price hikes.
“Unless Proposition 45 is passed or some other law is enacted to provide health insurance rate regulation and the requirement that health insurers and HMOs justify their rates, we are going to continue to see dramatic year-over-year increases,” he said in a media briefing by telephone, reported by Bloomberg News.
Covered California, the state’s insurance exchange, said the rates will take effect in 2015.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.