The whole point of the Affordable Health Care act was to make health insurance more affordable. Here it is only six months after the new plans went into effect & CareFirst is requesting a 30.2% increase in the rates for health care plans for individuals in the state of MD--30.2%! That is just outrageous!!! And it seems much like a bait & switch scam. Supposedly, CareFirst is a not-for-profit. Un-huh & I have a lovely bridge I'd like to sell you. It seems that CareFirst has been coached by the greedy folks at Pepco. After finally getting out of my individual traditional health care plan which cost an absolute fortune & into a still expensive plan but one not as expensive as the one I previously had, if this rate increase is approved, I will, literally, have to drop down a metal level just to keep my rates at what they are in 2014 & that, of course, means my benefits will decrease as well. I sincerely hope that the MD Insurance Administration will NOT approve this increase as it totally defeats the purpose of the Affordable Health Care Act.
        Location: Bethesda MD    Date: 6/27/2014

Documents: None   

The whole point of the Affordable Health Care act was to make health insurance more affordable. Here it is only six months after the new plans went into effect & CareFirst is requesting a 30.2% increase in the rates for health care plans for individuals in the state of MD--30.2%! That is just outrageous!!! And it seems much like a bait & switch scam. Supposedly, CareFirst is a not-for-profit. Un-huh & I have a lovely bridge I'd like to sell you. It seems that CareFirst has been coached by the greedy folks at Pepco. After finally getting out of my individual traditional health care plan which cost an absolute fortune & into a still expensive plan but one not as expensive as the one I previously had, if this rate increase is approved, I will, literally, have to drop down a metal level just to keep my rates at what they are in 2014 & that, of course, means my benefits will decrease as well. I sincerely hope that the MD Insurance Administration will NOT approve this increase as it totally defeats the purpose of the Affordable Health Care Act.
        Location: Bethesda MD    Date: 6/27/2014

Documents: None   

I am a CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield subscriber in one of its Maryland Health Exchange programs (BluePreferred HSA Silver), though I bought my family policy directly from CareFirst last fall because I couldn't get the Maryland Health Exchange website to work. I am writing to protest the outrageous, exorbitant rate increase of more than 30 percent proposed by CareFirst and to urge the Maryland Insurance Administration to slash it to a reasonable, affordable amount. With 94 percent of all enrollments, CareFirst is behaving as a predatory monopoly -- and it should be regulated as such. Perhaps CareFirst's enrollment skewers older and sicker--though with that many subscribers, this claim appears less than credible--but even if so, funding from the Affordable Care Act's Temporary Risk Corridors Program should minimize CareFirst's need for gargantuan premium increases. And here's the biggest problem -- even though we have other options under the Maryland Health Exchange, CareFirst has--by far--the widest selection of in-network physicians, hospitals and other health care providers. Which means, if we want to keep our doctors, switching plans isn't necessarily an option. CareFirst, of course, knows this full well. And I'll reiterate--it's behaving like a predatory monopoly. It's price gouging because it knows it can't get away with it--unless the Maryland Insurance Administration, exercises its power to prevent this. If CareFirst somehow underpriced its initial offerings on the Maryland Health Exchange, thats just a classic "bait and switch" by an insurer with monopolistic intentions, one that knows its provider network will prevent subscribers from leaving when prices shoot up. We shouldn't have to pay the price for this unconscionable behavior. I respectfully urge you and the members of the Maryland Insurance Administration to act on behalf of the interests of 67,800 Marylanders currently insured by CareFirst under the Maryland Health Exchange.
        Location: Takoma Park MD    Date: 7/17/2014

Documents: None   

See attached correspondence: http://www.mdinsurance.state.md.us/sa/docs/documents/consumer/ratereviewfilings/individual/carefirst-rate-analysis.angoff_7.15.14.pdf
    Submitted By: Leni Preston Md Women's Coalition    Location: Potomac MD    Date: 8/4/2014

Documents: None