A typical unemployment claim against a business increases the amount that business pays in state premiums in a range of $4,000 to $7,000 over a three-year period, said David Prosnitz, owner of Personnel Planners, a company based in Chicago that fights 15,000 unemployment claims a year for its 1,000 business clients.
In state after state, premiums will go down as different insurers have to compete on a level playing field.
They can include a one-time sales load charge, a required annual mortality expense, the monthly cost of insurance, a state premium tax and a deferred acquisition cost.
But as Robert Book of the Heritage Foundation has shown, on a per-person basis, Medicare's administrative costs are higher than those of private insurance, although private plans have additional administrative expenses, such as state premium taxes, marketing and returns for stockholders.
Iowa's new governor, Republican Terry Branstad, signed a bill during his previous tenure in the 1980s that eliminated the state premium tax on annuities, making Iowa more attractive for insurance companies.
With Gingrich standing nearby, then- Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue signed a law exempting HSA-linked health plans from state premium taxes and gave employers a $250 tax credit for each employee it enrolled in a plan with an HSA.
Today, in many Gulf Coast states, premiums in regions subject to hurricane damage are highly subsidized because of rate regulations imposed by state insurance commissioners.
In 24 of the states, premiums rose by 5% or less; in 12, the change is zero or negative.
In many states, premiums have risen substantially in the past few years, as plans have struggled to attract customers in relatively good health.
It would let public entities, excluding the state, pool premiums and get coverage through the commission.
Thirty-five stalreadyready have high-risk pools, financed by a combination of state money, premiums and assessments on insurance companies.
