Where can I find info about how health insurance premiums are determined?

I am doing a paper for a Healthcare Economics Class and need to research what factors (size of company, health status, type of health coverage) are used for determining health insurance premiums.

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March 18th, 2010 at 9:06 am
I actually sell small group health insurance. The size of employer, type of plan and health status all play a role. But most companies base their prices on the area you live in as well.
If you live in a rural area where there aren’t a lot of physician contracts, it’ll often be more expensive. A more urban area where there are a lot of physicians tends to be cheaper.
Another factor is the age of the insured. The older the person, the more expensive the coverage.
March 18th, 2010 at 9:06 am
I am not totally sure but two suggestions would be to check your local college library for any healthcare related articles and maybe call some local companies to see if they are willing to provide an interview.
Hope that helps some… and you can also google the issue…that helps too.
Good luck on the paper.
March 18th, 2010 at 9:06 am
If you contact an insurance company, I guarantee it will tell you this information is proprietary.
However, a really good source is your state’s insurance commissioner’s office. Most commissioners have consumer education bulletins on a wide variety of subjects. Many also have these bulletins posted on their web sites. Here’s a link to an interactive map of all insurance commissioner web sites:
http://www.naic.org/state_web_map.htm
March 18th, 2010 at 9:06 am
there also