About 800,000 Californians who have individual health policies with Anthem Blue Cross are breathing a little bit easier. That's because Anthem has decided to forgo price hikes for now.
Anthem wanted to raise premiums as much as 39 percent for individual policy holders. But an independent audit found a lot of mistakes in Anthem's application. In response, the insurer says it will drop its request, but may reapply for increases soon.
San Diegan Steve Christianson has a policy with Anthem. His premiums already went up this year.
"I had one claim in 12 months and I've got a $1500 deductible, so that all came out of my pocket," complains Christianson. "So for essentially 12 months all they've been doin' is collecting premiums and they haven't paid out anything."
Senator Dianne Feinstein is pushing a bill to allow federal oversight of health insurance rates.
