Washington's largest health insurers imposed rate hikes on individual plans this year on the heels of continuous annual increases, and after company reserves grew and executive salaries mostly increased, a seattlepi.com review of state documents has found.
Federal health-care reforms are expected to help consumers with more affordable coverage, but not until 2014.
Regence BlueShield, which dominates the state's individual market with 132,000 members, instituted a 16.4 percent hike this year, the fourth year in a row of double-digit increases. It meant the company's individual premiums have swelled cumulatively by 91 percent since 2007.