Rate Increase

Blaming the cost to implement health care reform, the state's largest health insurer has proposed eye-popping rate increases to state regulators for individuals and small businesses. CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield wants to raise rates an average of 25 percent on those who buy coverage individually. Chet Burrell, the insurer's CEO, said the increase was needed to cover the cost of more sick people who will be joining the insurance rolls under health care reform. People with pre-existing conditions were denied coverage prior to health care reform, keeping insurance costs down.

A state panel voted unanimously Wednesday to increase the rates hospitals can charge by 1.65 percent, but the medical institutions say the amount is inadequate and will collectively drive hospitals into the red. The Maryland Hospital Association said the decision will cause operating margins to plummet to negative 0.24 percent. The association had pushed for a rate hike of 2.43 percent, which would have also pushed down margins, but still left hospitals operating in positive territory.

Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. asked Friday for another rate increase, three months after winning approval for higher charges, and company officials said they expect to seek more in the future. It's the third time in as many years that BGE has requested higher distribution rates. If approved, the typical residential customer getting both electricity and gas would pay about $72 more a year for distribution. Company officials said they expect to ask for frequent rate increases as they seek reimbursement for more aggressive tree-trimming, infrastructure upgrades and other work aimed at improving service.

Maryland hospitals would get some help dealing with federal cuts under a proposed plan that would increase the rates they can charge by 1.65 percent. The staff of the Health Services Cost Review Commission, the agency responsible for setting hospital rates, will recommend the increase at a meeting next week. The rate increase would take effect July 1 and run through the end of the year. The Maryland Hospital Association doesn't think the proposed increase is enough and is suggesting a rate hike of 2.43 percent.

Maryland hospitals would get some help dealing with federal cuts under a proposed plan that would increase the rates they can charge by 1.65 percent. The staff of the Health Services Cost Review Commission, the agency responsible for setting hospital rates, will recommend the increase at a meeting next week. The rate increase would take effect July 1 and run through the end of the year. The Maryland Hospital Association doesn't think the proposed increase is enough and is suggesting a rate hike of 2.43 percent.

The 7,000 households in Carroll County that receive public water from Liberty Reservoir are expected to see a slight increase in the water and sewer bills. The county is expected to adopt the new rates as part of its budget on Tuesday, May 28, said Roberta Windham, a county spokeswoman. New rates would take effect July 1. Carroll County buys water from the Baltimore Department of Public Works, which announced Monday it will seek a 15 percent increase for city water and sewer customers.

Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. expects to ask for a rate increase within the next two months, less than half a year after it won approval for its last one. The plans were disclosed Wednesday during parent Exelon Corp.'s earnings call with analysts. Chicago-based Exelon said BGE would file its request by the end of June. The Maryland Public Service Commission approved BGE's most recent distribution-rate request in February, though not at the level the company had asked for. The regulatory agency said the average residential electricity consumer would pay an extra $3.33 a month and the average residential gas customer would pay an additional $2.70 a month.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maryland announced yesterday that it was seeking to raise its insurance rates between 10.3 percent and 20.9 percent for the policies it sells to supplement Medicare coverage.The company, the largest health insurer in Maryland, has asked state insurance regulators for the premium increase as a way to offset recent changes in the amount the federal government picks up under the Medicare program, Blue Cross said. The increase, if approved, would affect 105,000 senior citizens in the state.

Despite intense opposition from disgruntled customers, the Maryland Public Service Commission has granted an $11.3 million rate increase to Potomac Edison, the power company that serves western Carroll County.The increase -- the company's second in three months -- was approved last week, the company said in a news release yesterday.The request for the increase drew strong criticism at commission hearings in November from customers who said the company has not provided adequate service.Company officials said the increase includes $2 million for adjustments to comply with federal Clean Air Act Amendments.

The state's representative for utility customers says he will probably oppose Potomac Electric Power Co.'s request for a 3.7 percent rate increase -- which would be the company's third in Maryland in the last two years -- on grounds that the company is already making a healthy profit.Pepco asked the Maryland Public Service Commission Thursday for authority to increase its annual revenues by $28.3 million, or 3.7 percent. The increase would boost Maryland residential customers' monthly electricity bill by an average of $2.76.

As a Baltimore resident and daily subscriber to The Sun, which carries frequent stories that place in question the transparency, credibility and competence of city government, one cannot help but wonder if all or any of the water rate rises since 2000 and planned for the future have or will be necessary and beneficial to city residents who pay the bills ("Water bill whirlpool," May 22). Most recently, there have been reports on the city's misuse of federal educational grant funds ("Audit faults schools over federal funds," May 23)

The 7,000 households in Carroll County that receive public water from Liberty Reservoir are expected to see a slight increase in the water and sewer bills. The county is expected to adopt the new rates as part of its budget on Tuesday, May 28, said Roberta Windham, a county spokeswoman. New rates would take effect July 1. Carroll County buys water from the Baltimore Department of Public Works, which announced Monday it will seek a 15 percent increase for city water and sewer customers.

There is an old adage, often heard in the local marinas, that a boat is nothing more than a hole in the water into which you pour money. Turns out the same could be said about Baltimore's water and sewer system - it is a money-soaking hole that puts the Queen Mary to shame. That the city's water system is old and deteriorating is nothing new. No doubt there are pipes still in the ground that would have served Edgar Allan Poe in his day - if the notorious drinker ever had a taste for non-alcoholic beverages, that is. But that problem was apparent last year, and the year before, and the year before that, and on and on. For more than a decade, Baltimore has been raising water rates annually by 9 percent or more.

Baltimore County residents served by the city's water system won't see a rate increase this year, county officials said Tuesday, despite a city proposal to impose a 15 percent increase. Baltimore City's Department of Public Works proposed the rate increase this week. The city and county have had a cost-sharing agreement for decades. But a county spokeswoman said budget officials have already determined that the county can absorb the increased cost without passing it on to county customers - even though they don't yet have specifics on how much the county might have to cover.

Baltimore Gas & Electric certainly isn't likely to win any popularity contests. It secured a rate increase from the Public Service Commission in February - its second in the last three years - and turned around and filed a request for another one on Friday. And at the same time, the utility is asking the PSC for what may be unprecedented in Maryland: a surcharge on customers' monthly bills to pay for improvements to the electrical grid in advance. But as little as we may like it, the truth is that failing to make investments in maintaining the grid and improving its reliability is costing us dearly, too. It's just a harder cost to figure than the one that shows up at the bottom of our electric bills every month.

Customers of Baltimore's water system would see their water bills go up 15 percent - more than expected - under a proposal the Department of Public Works announced Monday. The projected rate hike follows years of increases and will bring a typical customer's annual bill to nearly $800, up from about $500 a decade ago, city officials said. Public works officials had previously said an increase of about 12 percent might be needed for the year that begins July 1. They said Monday the 15 percent increase is necessary to meet state and federal mandates, accelerate plans to replace aging water lines that frequently break and update meter and billing systems.

Just weeks after winning its biggest rate increase in the company's history, Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. proposed yesterday raising its power charges again next month.BG&E filed for permission from state regulators to increase monthly electric bills for the average residential customer by $1.13 a month starting Feb. 1.By March, customers using an average of 600 kilowatt hours a month will be paying $52.33 a month in BG&E electric bills, BG&E said.Yesterday's filing comes on top of a two-step, $149 million increase in base rates that was approved by the Maryland Public Service Commission Dec. 17. That move pushed up monthly residential bills nearly $3 immediately and $3 more on June 1.Yesterday's proposed 8.9 percent increase in the fuel-rate part of BG&E charges would bring BG&E an additional $4 million a month, the company said.

NEW YORK -- U.S. stocks were mixed yesterday as the Federal Reserve's seventh interest-rate increase in the past year dimmed prospects for continued strong earnings growth in 1995.Better-than-expected profits from Ford Motor Co. and CompUSA Inc. couldn't keep investors from concluding that the Fed's rate increases may slow the economy and prevent this year's earnings from rising as fast as they did in 1994.The Fed's rate increase was widely expected. In its statement announcing the move, though, the central bank said nothing to indicate yesterday's increase would be the last for some time, as many people had hoped.

Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. asked Friday for another rate increase, three months after winning approval for higher charges, and company officials said they expect to seek more in the future. It's the third time in as many years that BGE has requested higher distribution rates. If approved, the typical residential customer getting both electricity and gas would pay about $72 more a year for distribution. Company officials said they expect to ask for frequent rate increases as they seek reimbursement for more aggressive tree-trimming, infrastructure upgrades and other work aimed at improving service.

Maryland hospitals said they will need to cut jobs and patient services after a state panel voted Wednesday to keep hospital rates flat, despite a 2 percent cut in Medicare payments required by federal sequestration. "There are significant job cuts literally on the near-term horizon," Robert A. Chrencik, CEO of the University of Maryland Medical System told commissioners during a hearing before the vote. "I think folks need to be aware of that. " The 5-1 vote by the Health Services Cost Review Commission, which sets the state's hospital rates, effectively forces the hospitals to absorb the cut in Medicare reimbursement at a time when hospital margins are razor-thin.