I'm old. I'm on Medicare. On January 21, 2016 I got a letter from my Medicare Supplemental Insurance company, Blue Shield of California. They informed me that my premium for this year was going to increase. The increase is a huge 11.5%. Wait a minute! They are just NOW informing me of a huge rate increase - AFTER the open enrollment period is over? AFTER it is too late for me to change insurance companies for 2016? AFTER I am now stuck with this insurance for another entire year and can't change companies and am stuck paying 11.5% more? Coincidence? Hmm. Total bullshit? Total deception? Rate Rape? Hmm.
Let's take a closer look. The inflation rate for the entire U.S. in 2015 was 1.6%, less than 2%. So why is Blue Shield of California raising my annual premium a whopping 11.5%??? That's more than seven times the rate of U.S. annual inflation! That's an annual rate increase of over 700%!!!
That's "rate rape". Blue Shield of California is raping old people with rate increases. Blue Shield of California is raping old sick people. Blue Shield of California is raping old sick people who are living on a fixed income and can't AFFORD an 11.5% rate increase (for me that's $22 a month). And Blue Shield of California rate raped its members AFTER it was too late for members to avoid it (the last day to change plans was December 7, it's now January 21). Shame on Blue Shield of California! And shame on the government agency that approved the rate rape!
