U.S. health insurance premiums rose 7% in 2009

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. health insurers took in 7 percent more revenue from premiums from individual, group and other policies in 2009 than in the previous year, even as the number of those people with coverage fell, according to a report released on Thursday. Individual premium revenues rose 15% while group premiums, which involve mostly employers, rose nearly 3%, according to the report from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), an organization whose prominence has grown following passage of the new U.S. health reform law.