Oregon: Approved *unsubsidized* avg. 2017 indy mkt rate hikes: 26.5%

Regular readers may be a bit confused here, as Oregon's insurance dept. had already approved 2017 rates back in early August, for a statewide average of around 23.8%.

However, as reported by Louise Norris:

But when four carriers (Atrio, BridgeSpan, Providence, and — off-exchange — Regence) agreed in August to cover a broader service area than they had originally intended for 2017, state regulators also allowed them to further increase their premiums due to the increased risk they would be shouldering. Final approved average rate increases for Oregon’s exchange carriers are as follows:

• Atrio Health Plans: 29 percent (up from the originally-approved 20.8 percent).

• BridgeSpan: 23 percent (up from the originally-approved 18.9 percent).

• Kaiser Permanente: 14.5 percent (range is from 10.9 to 22 percent).

• Moda: 29.3 percent (lower than the 32.3 percent average rate increase Moda had requested).

• PacificSource: 15.2 percent.

• Providence Health Plan: 29.6 percent (this is what Providence originally requested, but regulators had initially approved 24.1 percent, and reconsidered when Providence agreed to continue to offer plans state-wide in 2017)

You win some, you lose some; the net result of these revisions is that more people will have more options to choose from across the state...but the rates will go up a bit more as a result. Here's what the average looks like now:

As you can see, it's nudged up from 23.8% to around 26.5% overall.