The $2,391 Health Insurance Premium: How I Got the Story

My editor forwarded me an e-mail from a reader, 55, frustrated that PacifiCare raised the cost of his policy to nearly $2,400 a month.

When the California governor's office sent out an announcement the morning of Monday, Oct. 25, about the state's new insurance plan, my first thought was this new plan should help this reader, so I gave him a call. 

He was very forthcoming about the costs he was facing and his efforts to find less costly insurance. It took more time to reach the right state official and a spokesman for the insurance company.

Here is the resulting story, published today in the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

What I would do the next time a reader raises a personal health issue is ask at the outset for a HIPAA waiver so the insurer could provide specific information about how the cost is calculated.