2 Investigators: Self-Insurance Systems Hiking Premiums
CHICAGO (CBS) -- There is currently no regulation in Illinois to protect you from skyrocketing health insurance premiums. And as 2 Investigator Pam Zekman found out, some people are getting a real shock when they open their latest insurance bills.
"My premiums went from $305 on a monthly basis to $781 on a monthly basis," retired carpenter Charles Castiglione tells Zekman. "It's devastating to me, my family and other people that are like me."
Castiglione is on disability for a leg injury and buys his medical insurance through the Carpenter's Union, a self-insured organization.
Castiglione says he thought the union would look out for his interests, particularly as he got older. But now he thinks differently.
"I feel like they screwed us," he said.
The President of the 35,000-member union wouldn't go on camera but told CBS 2 the union insurance fund was seven months away from insolvency when it was forced to raise premiums.
"This is major to a lot of retirees that are on fixed income," Castiglione says.
Thirty-three states have regulations to control excessive premium increases, but Illinois is not one of them. And self-insured organizations like unions are usually exempt from such oversight.
University of Chicago Professor Harold Pollack, an expert on health insurance policy, says help is not close at hand. But things should improve in 2014, when people will be able to choose from a variety of insurance plans, including government-subsidized programs.
"I share everyone's impatience that it's going to be several years before some of these needed reforms are actually on the ground running," Pollack said.
In the meantime, family's like the Castiglione's try to figure out their household budget. Castiglione's wife, Connie, says medical insurance is the big expense for the household -- not the mortgage.
"The union needs to know that they can't get away with this," Charles Castiglione said. "We need to make the unions accountable for this cost increase."
After CBS 2's inquires, the union took another look at their rate increases and did some recalculations. The union president said directors realized that members in the same situation as Castiglione needed some relief. Their monthly premium increase was decreased by about 40 percent.
That represents $500,000 in savings for 400 members.
