Illinois insurance prices rising before health law

Associated Press

A new report finds health insurance prices in Illinois were increasing by about 10 percent or more annually in the three years before President Barack Obama signed the nation's health care law.

The report was released Thursday by the nonpartisan Commonwealth Fund. It is meant to help people gauge whether prices for 2015 climb faster or slower than they did before the health care law.

Those 2015 prices won't be announced for months. Insurers now are submitting their health plans to Illinois regulators.

The new report is based on data collected by the National Opinion Research Center and analyzed by economist Jonathan Gruber. He's a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who advised both former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Obama on the development of their health care laws.