They're still not performing as badly as major cable companies, but health insurers are receiving mediocre marks at best from American consumers.
After rising to a score of 75 out of 100 in 2009, health insurers' support from their customers has slipped consistently to a decade-low score of 69, according to the American Consumer Satisfaction Index.
The three top performing insurers were Humana and the nonprofit Kaiser Permanente, both of which scored 71. Closely behind, at 70, was Blue Cross and Blue Shield. Anthem scored 69, while Aetna got a 68, UnitedHealth got a 66 and Cigna, at the very bottom, scored 60.
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But don't blame the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, argues MarketWatch's Caty Hill. She points out that individual health plans actually score slightly higher than group plans: 71 versus 68. Those are the plans most likely to have been purchased as a result of the PPACA, which mandated that individuals who aren't covered by group plans purchase their own.
Steadily rising costs are likely the chief culprit, Hill suggests. While PPACA appears to have helped slow the growth of health costs, they continue to rise nevertheless. Average premiums for individual health plans on PPACA exchanges only increased modestly in the past year, but in some instances they have risen dramatically, undoubtedly taking a serious toll on customer satisfaction.
But more important that general rising costs may be the ongoing trend of employers shifting a bigger portion of the costs of insurance onto employees. According to a recent analysis by Aon Hewitt, employees today pay an average of 134 percent more for their insurance than they did 10 years ago. The total paid annually in premiums and out-of-pocket expenses for the average workers has gone from $2,001 in 2005 to $4,698 today.
Hill points out that other surveys have not shown equally gloomy consumer attitudes towards the insurance industry. According to an analysis of 134 health plans by J.D. Powers, satisfaction with insurance coverage has actually increased in the past year.
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