Health insurance ratings spark debate

Richard Mains and his wife are paying $2,000 more this year for their health insurance plan from the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau. Mains' son, -however, is paying $2,000 less for the same plan.

The difference, Mains said, is age.

Capital BlueCross, the insurer that provides the plan to the

I have mixed feelings about it," said Mains, who, along with his family, raises heifers on a 1,000-acre farm in Cumberland County.

The insurance industry and the small business community have mixed feelings, too.

Many health insurers in Pennsylvania look at demographic and/or health-related factors when

determining premiums for small employers. However, some insurers and small business groups want the state to stop insurers from using such factors and instead use community rating, which does not take such factors into account. (See "How rating system works," this page).