According to the Los Angeles Times, insurance brokers say this is the largest rate hike they have seen, and the increase comes on top of previous rate hikes last year. Anthem said that the reason for the rate hike is rising health care costs in the individual market. This is a specious claim. Anthem and other health insurers are a major reason for these rising costs. The company’s actions are nothing more than the result of runaway deregulation in a for-profit health care system that should not exist. Anthem is simply raising its rates because it can.

All Californians need and are entitled to quality, comprehensive medical care. But they are being held hostage by greedy health insurance companies that bleed them financially while offering fewer and fewer services. People can’t choose not to have health care. Consumers in the individual market have little choice but to either drop their coverage, or keep their increasingly unaffordable plans, unable to easily switch insurers if they have pre-existing conditions. And skyrocketing insurance rates will only cause more and more employers to drop coverage for their employees, adding to the nearly 47 million uninsured nationwide.

There is no good reason for Anthem and other health insurance companies to exist. They provide no value for consumers, nor do they provide health care. They are simply unnecessary middlemen who move money around and skim off the top for their obscene profits. Private insurers' administrative costs run anywhere from 15%-25%, compared with about 3% for Medicare. The extra money they rake in doesn’t go to health care, but rather, to paperwork, shareholder profits, advertising, CEO salaries that run in the millions, fancy office space, private jets, luxury mansions and expensive cars. These people have no right to live like kings on others’ suffering.

Health care must be a public service, not a commodity to be traded and sold on the stock market. You can choose to drive a car, but you cannot choose not to become sick. SB 810, California’s single payer legislation sponsored by State Sen. Mark Leno, would eliminate the for-profit health insurance middlemen that are strangling the state’s economy and causing needless suffering and deaths from denying care. Under SB 810, private health insurance would be replaced by a public health insurance plan run by the state of California and paid for through taxes. Every California resident would be covered by the plan that includes medical, dental, prescriptions, mental health, rehabilitation, diagnostics and more. There would be no deductibles, co-pays, or exclusions for pre-existing conditions. Health care would continue to be provided by private doctors and hospitals - only the state government will be paying the bills. And patients would be able to choose any doctor they want, not be limited to providers within a health insurance-mandated network. No procedure would require pre-approval from government officials, nor would anyone’s care be denied. Your health care would truly be decided between you and your doctor - not between you, your doctor and some faceless insurance bureaucrat with no medical expertise. And finally, SB 810 will save California billions of dollars by getting rid of the waste and inefficiency within the private health care industry, and by focusing on preventative care. Moreover, Californians would have the freedom to easily change jobs and start new businesses without fear of losing their health insurance. This flowering entrepreneurialism will jumpstart our flailing economy. And no longer would Californians have to fear going broke just because they got sick.

California OneCare (www.californiaonecare.org), a grassroots organization of health reform activists and concerned citizens, is leading the campaign to pass SB 810 and to make California a model for the rest of the nation. SB 810 has already been approved by the California State Senate, and is currently being considered in the Assembly before moving on to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s desk. Schwarzenegger has already vetoed the legislation twice, and we now need Californians to pressure him to sign it this time in light of Anthem’s egregious behavior, and Congressional paralysis that has stalled federal health reform legislation. Californians must also put pressure on the candidates in this November’s governor’s race to replace Schwarzenegger in case he refuses once again to sign SB 810. Californians can no longer afford to wait for quality, affordable and comprehensive health care. Everybody In. Nobody Out.