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Dear Kimberly,
As
Insurance Commissioner, my office gets calls every day from
Californians who cannot afford health insurance premium increases. In order to rein in skyrocketing health insurance rate increases I am sponsoring Assembly Bill 52 (Feuer and Huffman). AB 52 would give me the authority to reject excessive health insurance rate increases before they go into effect. Many insurance companies are raising rates multiple times in the same year, creating a hardship for more and more Californians. The
U.S. Department of Labor reports that medical inflation has been
between 3.5% - 4% per year each of the last few years. That makes it
difficult to understand why the cumulative rate increases for many
policyholders have been 50, 60, 80% or even higher since 2008. The five largest health insurers in this country made a combined profit of $11.7 billion last year. That was a 17% increase over the 2009 profit of $9.9 billion and a 51% increase over the $7.8 billion made in 2008. Insurance
Commissioners in many other states have the authority to reject
excessive health insurance rate hikes. But I have this authority only
when it comes to auto and homeowners' insurance. It's
only right that the Insurance Commissioner have that same authority for
something as important to each and every Californian as health
insurance. Many of you contacted Assemblymembers in May or early June asking them to vote for AB 52. Thanks to you, the bill passed the Assembly despite the intense lobbying efforts by the health insurance industry. Now, AB 52 moves on to the Senate where it will be heard in the Senate Health Committee on Wednesday, June 29th. Please call members of the Senate Health Committee TODAY and ask them to vote for AB 52 when it's up for consideration on June 29th. The following is a list of the Senate Health Committee members and their Capitol Office telephone numbers: Senator Ed Hernandez (Chair) -- 916-651-4024 Senator Elaine Alquist --- 916-651-4013 Senator Kevin de Leon -- 916-651-4022 Senator Mark DeSaulnier (AB 52 co-author) -- 916-651-4007 Senator Michael Rubio -- 916-651-4016 Senator Lois Wolk (AB 52 co-author) -- 916-651-4005 Thank
you again for taking the time to call and support AB 52. Your
efforts have had an enormous impact on the success of the bill thus far.
If
the Department of Insurance can assist you with an insurance problem or
provide you with additional information, please contact our Consumer
Hotline at 1-800-927-4357 or visit our website at www.insurance.ca.gov.
Sincerely, 
DAVE JONES California Insurance Commissioner | 
