Insurance Blog

The federal health law that will take effect next year is expected to raise insurance premiums, especially for people who purchase their own insurance, expert said.

The law will mandate that plans increase their minimum benefits, and it will ban insurers from weeding out people already diagnosed with illnesses.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said to reporters that "Some people purchasing new insurance policies for themselves this fall could see premiums rise because of requirements in the health-care law."


Her remarks come weeks before insurers are expected to begin releasing rates for plans that will start on Jan. 1, 2014, when key provisions of the health law kick in.

Some insurers have already begun signaling that they could dramatically increase prices for people buying policies in the individual market to compensate for restrictions on how they treat consumers, as well as new fees and requirements that they provide bigger benefits packages, reported by The Wall Street Journal last week.

The Society of Actuaries also issued a warning that the cost of medical claims in the new individual-insurance market could rise by an average of 32% per person over the first few years the law is in place.