California Group Plans, Georgia Individual Plans and Georgia Group Plans will be experiencing rate changes next week. Rates are going up on average around 10%, so if you are interested in enrolling with Kaiser Permanente now is the time to act. Get enrollment forms submitted now for a June 1^st effective date. Submit applications by the end of May 2009 to lock in the current rates. Those who apply by the end of this month can lock in the current rates for a year.

You may experience longer processing times because lots of others are trying to get in by the deadline as well. Increased amounts of applications means more work for underwriters who are already quite busy. Also, Kaiser Permanente support staff may be a bit more difficult to reach over the next week.

Despite the inconvenience, we highly recommend getting your applications in now. It’s never fun giving support to customers the week after the deadline when they find out they could have decreased their premium for the entire year by simply applying a few days earlier.