SENIORS FACE SOARING MEDIGAP PREMIUMS.Byline: Harry Dunphy Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. The price of insurance covering health care costs that Medicare won't pay has skyrocketed in the last year, with increases commonly ranging from 20 percent to 40 percent, a consumer group said Thursday. As a result, the report contended, many elderly people may have to cancel their supplemental Medigap policies at a time of possible cutbacks in Medicare coverage. ``The sharp increases in Medigap insurance premiums are a threatening prospect for many Americans,'' said Families USA Families USA is an American non-profit consumer health-care advocacy organization. It was founded by attorney Ron Pollack, its executive director. Pollack was Dean of Antioch School of Law, and argued cases involving food aid for low-income Americans before the Supreme Court. executive director Ron Pollack pollack: see cod. pollack or pollock Either of two commercially important North Atlantic species of food fish in the cod family (Gadidae). . ``Many of our nation's elderly are going to be squeezed out of the Medigap market.'' About three-quarters of senior citizens have a Medigap policy to cover items that Medicare does not, such as deductibles or prescription drugs. Families USA - a liberal advocacy group on health care issues - analyzed premium increases between 1995 and 1996 for Medigap in 35 states for Prudential and Blue Cross Blue Shield Blue Shield A US not-for-profit health care insurer that is a reimbursement intermediary for physicians. Cf Blue Cross. , the two companies that underwrite more than 50 percent of the $12 billion Medigap market. Prudential's program cooperates with the 30 million member American Association American Association refers to one of the following professional baseball leagues:
In California, with 10 percent of the nation's elderly population, the annual premium for Prudential's basic plan rose 37 percent to $774 in 1996, up from $552 in 1995. But its most popular plan, with more benefits, increased premiums in California by 39 percent to $1,614, up from $1,161. With the average Social Security benefit for a single person totaling $724, the new premium costs more than two months of Social Security checks. Elsewhere, Prudential's increases ranged from 40 percent in Hawaii to 26 percent in South Carolina South Carolina, state of the SE United States. It is bordered by North Carolina (N), the Atlantic Ocean (SE), and Georgia (SW). Facts and Figures Area, 31,055 sq mi (80,432 sq km). Pop. (2000) 4,012,012, a 15. . Premiums for Blue Cross-Blue Shield increased less than Prudential's, but still outpaced Medicare inflation or Social Security cost-of-living adjustments in many states. Prudential and AARP AARP, a nonprofit, nonpartisan national organization dedicated to "enriching the experience of aging"; membership is open to people age 50 or older. Founded in 1958 by Ethel Percy Andrus as American Association of Retired Persons, AARP now has over 30 million spokesmen said the report was accurate but noted that its premiums did not increase in 1995, and that it gave some refunds or credits in 1994. |
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