The Kansas state insurance commissioner rejected the proposed acquisition of Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Kansas, the state's largest health insurer, by an Indiana company yesterday, saying it would raise consumer premiums too much.
"I believe insurers have an obligation to use consumers' premium dollars in a way that maximizes the benefit to their policyholders," he wrote.
And when you cut through the abstraction and somewhat scattered messaging of the material issued around launch, that's precisely what the company sees as its selling point for consumers: premium build at a reasonable pricing.
What's ironic is that while Pinterest really has been rapidly growing and gaining traction with consumers, Premium Interest has yet to launch, or use any variation of the "Pinterest" trademark that it owns.
Because high price points equal higher quality in the minds of consumers, premium brands need to be more delicate with their discounting, using promotions that are more targeted to an elite niche market.
"For the majority of consumers, premium increases for 2016 are in single digits, and they will be able to find plans for under $100 a month," said Kevin Counihan, CEO of the Health Insurance Marketplace.
For consumers, premiums are likely to rise or fall by $150 or less a year, insurance executives say.
Such an option, which is a provision of overhaul bills approved by three House committees and the Senate health committee, could make consumers' premiums cheaper but would most likely take business away from private insurance companies, which the chamber represents.
Insurers' costs — and consumers' premiums — have remained under control, partly because the government put measures in place to reduce the impact of the young-invincible problem, and partly because it turned out that the main reason young people didn't sign up for private health insurance, pre-Obamacare, was not that they felt invincible but that insurance was so costly.
"Is anyone surprised that WellPoint intends another year of outrageous rate increases when no one has the power to open their books and make them explain how they're spending consumers' premiums?" Consumer Watchdog's Carmen Balber asked in a press release.
