Opinion: Premium Increases Reflect Rising Medical Costs

"Contrary to what many believe, rising insurance premiums mostly reflect the increasing year-to-year growth of medical claims for different insured groups," Leif Wellington Haase, senior fellow at the New America Foundation, writes in an opinion piece for the San Francisco Chronicle's "Opinion Shop." Haase adds that California needs "a broad health care affordability agenda to lower health costs and to improve the value the state gets for its medical spending."

• "Focus on Lowering Health Care Costs, Not Just Health Insurance Rates" (Haase, "Opinion Shop," San Francisco Chronicle, 4/27).