Health Insurance for how much?

A host of entertainment industry workers in California and New Jersey who buy health insurance as a group are being hit with a rate increase that will raise some family health insurance plan premiums to more than $44,000 a year.

Cigna HealthCare will raise health insurance rates for members of the group an average of 82% in California and 65% in New Jersey in 2007.

Under the new health plan rates, the most expensive plan in California will cost a family $3,685 a month, $44,220 a year. Less-expensive HMO plans will cost families $24,624. In New Jersey, an HMO will cost $10,260 a year for a single person and $30,372 for a family.

Affected by the health insurance rate hike are over 1,000 members of 30 different guilds and associations who buy health insurance through the Entertainment Industry Group Insurance Trust, a Clifton Park, N.Y.-based multiple-employer insurance broker. The trust offers the group insurance policies to association members, a mix of small businesses and sole proprietors.

Health insurance companies are generally free to set prices as high as the market allows, although most states limit increases for policies covering small groups, those of two to 50 people. There are no limits for larger groups.