As Open Enrollment launches today, tens of thousands of Mainers qualify for help to pay their monthly premiums
AUGUSTA — The Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) announced today that Maine people can now visit CoverME.gov to shop for and enroll in 2024 coverage that fits their needs at a price that works during the Open Enrollment Period that kicks off today, November 1, 2023.
At CoverME.gov, Maine's Health Insurance Marketplace, Maine people can compare private plans, apply for financial savings, and enroll in a 2024 health or dental insurance plan. All plans offered on CoverME.gov provide quality, comprehensive insurance that protects consumers if they have an accident or major illness and fully pays for preventive screenings. This year, Maine people can continue to take advantage of additional federal financial assistance that makes insurance more affordable.
Hawaii only has two health insurance carriers serving the individual market, Hawaii Medical Service Assocation and Kaiser Foundation Health Plan. Both of them have submitted their proposed premium rate filings for 2024; HMSA is asking for a dramatic 12.2% rate hike while Kaiser Foundation is seeking a more modest 3% increase.
Our requested rates include only the amounts needed to cover the expected health care benefits of our members, the cost of administering their benefits, expected Affordable Care Act (ACA) fees, a small charge to help manage the risk of offering benefits to this population, and a small margin that will allow us to continue replenishing HMSA’s reserves.
Covered California’s Health Plans and Rates for 2024: More Affordability Support and Consumer Choices Will Shield Many From Rate Increase
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Covered California announced its health plans and rates for the 2024 coverage year with apreliminary weighted average rate increase of 9.6 percent.
The rate change can be attributed to many factors, including a continued rise in health care utilization following the pandemic, increases in pharmacy costs, and inflationary pressures in the health care industry, such as the rising cost of care, labor shortages and salary and wage increases.
Florida state law gives private corporations wide berth as to what sort of information, which is easily available in some other states, they get to hide from the public under the guise of it being a "trade secret."
In the case of health insurance premium rate filing data, that even extends to basic information like "how many customers they have."
Yesterday, however, the Michigan Dept. of Insurance & Financial Services posted the final/approved rate filings for 2024, and while there were only a couple of very minor tweaks to most of the preliminary requests, there's one important change: US Health & Life Insurance Co. is no longer going to be on the Michigan individual market at all:
In August I posted the average rate changes being requested for 2024 by New Jersey insurance carriers on the individual & small group markets; it came in at ~6.6% for the indy market and 12.2% for the small group market...but those was unweighted by carrier market share.
Yesterday, with the launch of the 2024 Open Enrollment Period, the New Jersey Insurance Dept. has posted the final/approved rate filings...and while they don't appear to have made any changes to the preliminary requested rate changes, they do include the overall weighted rate increases (unfortunately I still don't know how many enrollees each carrier has).
The weighted rate hikes are just 4.4% on the individual market and 7.3% for small group plans. It's also worth noting that UnitedHealthcare is newly joining the NJ individual market:
Yesterday the Missouri Insurance Dept. posted the final/approved filings along with this press release:
Missouri Department of Commerce and Insurance releases health insurance rates for 2024 with more choices for Missourians
Missourians should shop around when looking for health insurance coverage on the individual market; most will find they have many choices for plan year 2024
Jefferson City, Mo – The Missouri Department of Commerce and Insurance (DCI) announces the release of final health insurance rates for Missouri’s 2024 individual market.
Provides that beginning before or on May 1, 2026, and each May 1 thereafter, the Department of Insurance shall report to the Governor and the General Assembly on health insurance coverage, affordability, and cost trends.
Amends the Illinois Insurance Code.
Provides that any forms and rates filed for large employer group accident and health insurance shall be automatically deemed approved after 90 days after filing.
Provides that beginning plan year 2026, rate increases for all individual and small group accident and health insurance policies must be filed with the Department for approval.
Provides that unreasonable rate increases or inadequate rates shall be modified or disapproved.
Provides that beginning plan year 2025, the Department shall post all insurers' rate filings and summaries on the Department's website.
Alaska is a sparsely populated state with only two carriers on their individual market and four on their small group market. Alaska's insurance department website is useless when it comes to getting rate filings or enrollment data; I had to use the federal Rate Review site to even get the requested rate changes.
Fortunately, Premera Blue Cross includes a summary which lists their enrollment numbers, and with Moda being the only other carrier on the market, I was able to estimate a weighted average (assuming Moda has around 4,000 enrollees, which seems about right given Alaska's total on-exchange enrollment of roughly 25,500 people during Open Enrollment; effectuated enrollment as of last spring is almost certainly a couple thousand lower overall).
Kansas is yet another state where the actuarial memos are heavily redacted, making it extremely difficult to get ahold of the actual enrollment numbers for the individual or small group markets. Once again, without knowing how many Kansans are enrolled in each carriers insurance policies, I have no way of running a weighted average, and therefore can only provide an unweighted average.
With that in mind, for 2024 Kansas individual market carriers are requesting an unweighted average rate increase of 4.5%. One carrier (US Health & Life) does provide an unredacted summary with enrollment, but they're a tiny part of the market which doesn't help much. The small group market carriers are likewise asking for a 4.7% unweighted average rate hike.
It's worth noting that Cigna appears to be leaving the states individual market, while Humana is leaving the small group market...which I've noticed is happening in several other states that Humana currently offers small group plans in as well.
UPDATE 11/02/23: The final/approved rates have been posted to the Kansas Insurance Dept. website; it looks like everything was approved pretty much as is on the individual market, and there was only one carrier request modified on the small group market (UnitedHealthcare was reduced from a 6.1% increase to 3.9%).
