Brooke Murphy | June 08, 2016
Soaring pharmaceutical costs and less healthy policy holders have caused many insurers to request significant premium rate increases for health plans sold on the Affordable Care Act exchanges in 2017, reports Politico.
Under federal law, insurance companies requesting a premium rate increase in excess of 10 percent, either up or down, for plans sold on government markets must have the request approved by state’s Office of the Insurance Commissioner.
The average for weighted rate hike requests across ACA exchanges in 28 states and Washington D.C. is about 20.7 percent, according to analyst Charles Gaba.
Below are 11 states where insurers are requesting double-digit rate increases for plans sold on ACA exchanges next year.
States have been listed in alphabetical order. Not all insurers requesting double-digit rate increases have been listed.
1. Colorado: Golden Rule is seeking a 40.6 percent average premium rate hike, Rocky Mountain HMO is seeking a 34.6 percent increase, Colorado Choice wants a 36.3 percent increase and Anthem is requesting a 26.8 percent increase for individual plans.
2. Connecticut: Anthem is seeking a 26.8 percent rate increase, ConnectiCare is requesting a 14.3 percent increase and HealthyCT wants a 12.2 percent increase.
3. Delaware: For individual plans, Highmark BCBS is requesting a 32.5 percent average increase for individual plans and Aetna is seeking an average increase of 24.5.
4. New York: UnitedHealthcare is seeking a 45.6 percent average rate hike, Oscar is requesting an average 18.4 percent increase, CareConnect is asking for a 29.2 percent average increase and MetroPlus is requesting a 20.3 percent average increase.
5. Iowa: Wellmark Blue Cross & Blue Shield is seeking rate hikes between 38 percent and 43 percent and Medica is seeking a rate increase of 20 percent for individual plans.
6. Indiana: Anthem is asking to raise premiums an average of 29 percent. Care Source Indiana, Physicians Health Plan of Northern Indiana, MDwise Marketplace and IU Health Plans are asking for rate increases ranging from 10 to 25 percent.
7. Maine: Average rate increases requested by insurers for silver plans is about 18 percent.
8. North Carolina: Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina is seeking average rate increases of 18.8 percent and Aetna is asking for average rate increases of 24.5 percent.
9. Oregon: For individual plans, Moda Health Plans is seeking a 32.3 percent rate increase for individual plans, Oregon Health Co-op wants a 32 percent increase, Kaiser is asking for a 14.5 percent increase and Regence BlueCross Blueshield of Oregon is requesting a 17.9 percent increase.
10. Pennsylvania: UPMC Health Plan is requesting a rate increase of 16.2 percent and Highmark is requesting an average rate increase of 38 percent. The statewide average rate increase sought by health insurers was 23.6 percent, according to the state Department of Insurance.
11. Texas: Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, the largest state insurer, is requesting average rate hikes of nearly 60 percent for individual plans.
12. Virginia: Rate requests filed by the state’s five largest insurers show average increases ranging from 9.4 to 37.1 percent for individual coverage. Anthem is seeking an average increase of 15.8 percent, Aetna is requesting a 13 percent increase and Optima is asking for a 37.1 increase.
Source: Beckers