New Hampshire: *Final* avg. unsubsidized 2024 #ACA rate changes: +0.7% (updated)

via the New Hampshire Insurance Dept:

New Hampshire Insurance Department Announces the Launch of 2024 Open Enrollment Period for Affordable Care Act Individual Marketplace and Releases 2024 Premium Rates

CONCORD, NH (October 31, 2023) – Today, the New Hampshire Insurance Department (NHID) kicked off the Open Enrollment Period for Granite Staters who are seeking individual health coverage on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Individual Marketplace. The Open Enrollment Period runs from Tuesday, November 1, 2023, through Sunday, January 15, 2024.

“This is a significant opportunity for Granite Staters who do not have health insurance through their employer, Medicare, or Medicaid to enroll in the Individual Marketplace,” said New Hampshire Insurance Commissioner DJ Bettencourt. “For the fourth consecutive year, the 1332 Waiver has resulted in premiums for the individual market being the lowest in New England, ensuring more individuals have access to the healthcare they need.”

NHID bases its market premium calculations on the Second Lowest Cost Silver Plan (SLCSP) for a 40-year-old male non-smoker. In 2023, the SLCSP premium rate was $322.70, and for 2024, it will be $335.44, representing a 3.95 percent increase from the previous year, in line with the national inflation rate. Despite the increase, overall premiums remain the lowest among the New England states. 

My estimate of the preliminary weighted average rate increases for New Hampshire's individual market policies was 3.1%, so the final average for the benchmark plan being +4.0% sounds pretty reasonable. I'll have to wait until the federal Rate Review website is filled in with final/approved rates to get the average for all plans, but this should do for the moment.

UPDATE 11/01/23: Well, so much for that. According to the official federal Rate Review database, the overall approved weighted average rate increase for NH's individual market is actually just 0.7%. In fact, none of the 4 carriers on the NH indy market come close to a 4% average rate increase...they range from a 7.3% reduction to just a 2.2% increase. This doesn't mean that the NHID press release is inaccurate about the benchmark silver plans, however; those could easily be going up 4% while other plans are dropping substantially.

In any event, I get a much smaller average rate hike for the indy market, and the small group market is going up by less than requested as well: