Insurance: Those who use and those who Lose

     Insurance companies are trying to raise their rates, while they can, in anticipation of the new Obamacare that will go into effect in 2014( if we do not repeal the bill before that time).  In the mean time, Massachusetts has been fighting over its own universal health insurance mandate. I am neither an insurance broker or company, but I have been paying insurance for my employees when it was known as a benefit along with a good paying job/trade/occupation. The cost of said insurance is only going down for those who have no job and more of those people are coming.

The top three Massachusetts health insurers collectively will take a $100 million hit from their standoff with state insurance regulators, setting the stage for tough negotiations with area health providers to close the gap between premium rates and the cost of care. Health plan CEOs said their recent settlements with the state were designed to put the matter behind them.
“Agreeing to the settlements was the only way to end the continued harassment,” Tufts Health Plan CEO Jim Roosevelt said. Roosevelt and other insurance executives said that holding the line on rate increases would have prompted rejection of the rates every quarter. Roosevelt said he expects the insurer to lose $40 million as a result of the DOI action, and warned that rate caps “will ultimately force insurers to go out of business or leave the market.”
The settlements end the months-long dispute with the state Division of Insurance, that began in April with the rejection of the vast majority of proposed premium rate increases for small businesses. Insurance executives say Gov. Deval Patrick took another swing at the health plans this week, signing a bill that instructs them to create new plan designs for small businesses that will be cheaper than those currently available, but which does nothing to regulate the costs hospitals and doctors charge insurers for their services. This sets the two sides on a potential collision course, as insurers try to negotiate lower reimbursement rates with doctors and hospitals.

Will those who pay out number those who do not have the ability to pay and how soon?