Name:   GoneFishin - Subject:   CLUELESS RESPONDS TO KNOW IT ALL Date:   6/2/2015 11:09:50 PM

"Rising health insurance prices have been the subject of growing scrutiny for years as critics of so-called "Obamacare" point to rate increases as a signal the law isn't working. But rates have risen as much as 20 or 30 percent in recent years.

insurance companies have said their early enrollees were sicker than they had anticipated and were requiring more costly care.

United said that, in addition to more office visits and other consumer services, larger reimbursements to doctors and hospitals and more expensive medical technology contributed to its increase.

"Medical costs are going up, and we are changing our rates to reflect this increase. We expect medical costs to go up 10 percent. Medical costs go up mainly for two reasons: Providers raise their prices and members get more medical care," Aetna wrote in its filing, also citing increased costs for prescriptions and outpatient hospital services.

This year also marks the first time insurers are basing their premiums on a full year of cost or claims data. That's a first for plans sold on the overhaul's public insurance exchanges, which started enrolling customers in fall 2013.

Rates for 2015, for instance, were set based on only a few months of data collected last spring. insurers normally want to see a couple of years of claims from a patient population before they set rates."