Local seniors will be feeling the pain of higher premiums on their health insurance.

Highmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield said premiums on its Medicare HMO products for Mercer County seniors will be hiked up to 22 percent starting Jan. 1. The non-profit Pittsburgh insurer filed its rate request with The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a federal agency.

As western Pennsylvania's top health care insurance provider, Highmark's rates often have far-reaching effects. There are 3,400 Mercer County seniors with Highmark's Medicare HMO products. Policyholders will be notified by mail of the upcoming rate increases.

"Raising rates is the toughest thing we have to do,'' said Pete Sitter, a Highmark spokesman. "When it impacts seniors it's the worst.''

Insurance prices are climbing due to government reimbursement rates to insurers not keeping pace with surging health care costs, Sitter said.

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