Testimony before the
Senate Interim Committee on Health Insurance Exchanges
November 10, 2011
Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, thank you for being here today and accepting public testimony on this important matter.
My name is Joan Bray. I represent the Consumers Council of Missouri, which advocates for the interests of individual consumers with utilities, personal finance and health insurance. We urge you to accept the $21 million in federal money for the state to plan for a Missouri specific competitive health insurance marketplace. Changes in the way Missourians choose and pay for their health care cannot come soon enough.
Health care consumers have suffered far too long – not necessarily from physical maladies but certainly from ailing means of access to affordable health care. From 2000 to 2007, health insurance premiums for Missouri working families skyrocketed 76 percent while the median earnings of Missouri workers increased 17 percent, to $26,037 from $22,201. Health insurance premiums rose 4.4 times higher than workers’ earnings.
The consumers my organization represents are your constituents; they are the people you represent. As you consider this issue I hope you will think about them and maybe even in terms of the constituent surveys you send out. What do you think the answers would be to the following survey questions?
* Would you like health insurance companies to compete for your business based on the value of the plans they offer?
* Would you like health insurance companies to use easy-to-understand language to describe their products, what is covered and costs?
* Would you like health insurance companies to be limited on copayments, deductibles, out-of-pocket costs and premium increases?
* Would you like health insurance companies to be prevented from dropping your coverage if you get sick
* Would you like health insurance companies to be prevented from charging women higher premiums than men?
* Would you like health insurance companies to be prevented from denying you coverage because you have a disability or pre-existing condition?
You and I both know that most respondents to those questions on a constituent survey would answer yes to all of them.
Many of your constituents have a health insurance horror story involving a close family member or friend. You will be hearing some of those heartbreaking accounts today. I can tell you my own story about my young adult son who had an accident, surgery and rehab that has left him teetering on the brink of bankruptcy – despite his having had two major medical insurance policies at the time.
A health insurance exchange tailored for Missouri would begin preventing the reasons for those horror stories – dropped coverage, denied coverage, inadequate coverage, and, worst of all, no coverage.
A health insurance exchange would ensure that your constituents’ needs expressed through their answers to the theoretical questions of a constituent survey would be met in reality.
You can start righting the wrongs of the current health insurance marketplace by providing your constituents a health insurance exchange designed by Missourians for Missourians. Your constituents expect you to represent their best interests. Take the federal grant and get going.
Consumers Council of Missouri
Joan Bray, Chair
Testimony before the
Senate Interim Committee on Health Insurance Exchanges
November 10, 2011
Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, thank you for being here today and accepting public testimony on this important matter.
My name is Joan Bray. I represent the Consumers Council of Missouri, which advocates for the interests of individual consumers with utilities, personal finance and health insurance. We urge you to accept the $21 million in federal money for the state to plan for a Missouri specific competitive health insurance marketplace. Changes in the way Missourians choose and pay for their health care cannot come soon enough.
Health care consumers have suffered far too long – not necessarily from physical maladies but certainly from ailing means of access to affordable health care. From 2000 to 2007, health insurance premiums for Missouri working families skyrocketed 76 percent while the median earnings of Missouri workers increased 17 percent, to $26,037 from $22,201. Health insurance premiums rose 4.4 times higher than workers’ earnings.
The consumers my organization represents are your constituents; they are the people you represent. As you consider this issue I hope you will think about them and maybe even in terms of the constituent surveys you send out. What do you think the answers would be to the following survey questions?
* Would you like health insurance companies to compete for your business based on the value of the plans they offer?
* Would you like health insurance companies to use easy-to-understand language to describe their products, what is covered and costs?
* Would you like health insurance companies to be limited on copayments, deductibles, out-of-pocket costs and premium increases?
* Would you like health insurance companies to be prevented from dropping your coverage if you get sick?
* Would you like health insurance companies to be prevented from charging women higher premiums than men?
* Would you like health insurance companies to be prevented from denying you coverage because you have a disability or pre-existing condition?
You and I both know that most respondents to those questions on a constituent survey would answer yes to all of them.
Many of your constituents have a health insurance horror story involving a close family member or friend. You will be hearing some of those heartbreaking accounts today. I can tell you my own story about my young adult son who had an accident, surgery and rehab that has left him teetering on the brink of bankruptcy – despite his having had two major medical insurance policies at the time.
A health insurance exchange tailored for Missouri would begin preventing the reasons for those horror stories – dropped coverage, denied coverage, inadequate coverage, and, worst of all, no coverage.
A health insurance exchange would ensure that your constituents’ needs expressed through their answers to the theoretical questions of a constituent survey would be met in reality.
You can start righting the wrongs of the current health insurance marketplace by providing your constituents a health insurance exchange designed by Missourians for Missourians. Your constituents expect you to represent their best interests. Take the federal grant and get going.
