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National health care reform will drive up premium costs in the private health insurance markets, particularly for the young and the healthy, according to data from a series of state-level studies from insurance company WellPoint Inc.

The studies have been heavily criticized by Democrats, who are pushing for national health care reform, and provide further evidence of the expected battle over the effort in Washington, D.C., to pass a reform bill by the end of the year. WellPoint, parent company to Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Wisconsin, was asked by Senate and House Democrats and Republicans from states where the company operates “Blue” plans to figure out what the various reform proposals being debated in Washington would do to decrease or increase costs. The company ran an actuarial analysis in the 14 states based on actual cases, not averages, and found the vast majority of Wisconsin residents in the individual and small group markets would pay substantially more for health care under reform, said Lawrence Schreiber, president of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Wisconsin. Small employers would see premium increases or decreases based on their employee population. For example, an employer with eight employees who are young and healthy would see a 53 percent premium increase while an employer with eight employees of average age and health would see a 17 percent increase.

Employers  with older, less healthy employees would see an 11 percent decrease. The study clearly demonstrates that the young and healthy would be better off without health care reform and the older, less healthy would be substantially better off with reform, said health care industry observer Andy Serio, president of the Health Care System Consultants Division of The Horton Group, Pewaukee. Serio said because the current bills being proposed in the House and the Senate don’t address the cost of health care, healthier people will end up subsidizing the less healthy. WellPoint’s analysis took place from mid-September to October and did not include a public health insurance option, which Schreiber suspects would further exacerbate costs for young, healthy people with commercial insurance. Contrary to popular belief, the health insurance industry supports health reform, but is against the bills currently being considered in Congress because they are all missing two critical components, Schreiber said. Those components are an “effective and enforceable” mandate that everyone have health insurance and legislation that addresses actual health care spending.

U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said the details of the WellPoint study and other reports that show proposed health care legislation would increase federal spending and force many people to spend more for their health care are being swept under the rug in pursuit of Washington’s effort to “make history.” This summer, Ryan and fellow Republicans introduced their party’s alternative to President Barack Obama’s plan for universal health care, the Patients’ Choice Act. The bill has since stalled and more than 40 other Republican alternatives have been brought forth to no avail. House Republicans are planning to offer an alternative to the House reform bill at the end of the week, said Conor Sweeney, spokesman for Ryan. Moore also cited a recent report by MIT economist Jonathan Gruber, which shows that reform will lower premiums for Americans purchasing insurance on their own.

Source: The Business Journal

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