Blue Shield wants to hike its health insurance premiums again.   If it’s able to get this proposed rate hike approved, it could mean an increase of nearly 60 percent for policyholders.  The rate hikes could affect hundreds of thousands of Californians.

Now California’s new insurance commissioner Dave Jones wants this hike delayed while he investigates the proposed hikes.   Blue Shield isn’t the only carrier trying to jack-up its rates.  Aetna and Pacific Care have also proposed sizable rate hikes.   Aetna just raised its rates an average of 19% in October.  It now wants to raise them again by nearly 20%.    Yikes!!!

It’s easy for you and me to point our fingers at our health insurance carriers for the ever-rising cost of our coverage.  We can clearly see how big of a bite that insurance costs take out of our checking accounts.  Insurance industry profits are high in spite of their cries of losing money.

But what it there’s some truth in the insurance company claims that we’re using our plans more than ever and that their costs are rising?  Is it possible that doctors, medical equipment providers and hospitals are raising their fees too?  I think so.  But it’s hard for you and I as consumers to know that the doctor we just visited paid the medical supplier more for its MRI equipment and the nurses higher wages than it paid to them a year ago.

The high cost of medical care is a Killing many consumers’ budgets and frankly, I’m not sure where the solution lies.  Health Care Reform has made some inroads into making coverage more accessible to us all.  But it hasn’t yet addressed the spiraling costs that may derail the entire system if people can no longer afford proper medical care.