First, I want to apologize to all of my regular visitors for the 2-week gap in posting; a combination of personal committments and unjustified distractions resulted in my not posting any updates for a longer-than-acceptable period of time. I hope to try and make up for that over the next week or so.
The Colorado Division of Insurance (DOI) has completed its initial review of the health insurance plans that the companies have filed for 2025. The information below highlights the key information about the number of companies, plans and the premium changes the companies are requesting.
On July 25, 2024, the DOI will hold a virtual stakeholder meeting from 9:30-11:30 a.m. MDT, to share preliminary information regarding health insurance for 2025. This meeting will focus on highlights and trends the DOI has identified in its initial review of the information Colorado health insurers have submitted for 2025. People interested in attending this July 25 stakeholder meeting should register (via Zoom) using the following link - Register for July 25 Stakeholder Meeting(opens in new window).
Through the rest of summer and into the fall, the DOI will continue to review the information the insurance companies have submitted, and expects to release the final, approved plans and premiums in mid-October, ahead of the Nov. 1 start to the annual open enrollment period for the individual market.
Bipartisan Reinsurance program effort continues to save consumers millions in 2025. Colorado Option plans will again have lower premiums than non-option plans.
DENVER - Today, Governor Polis and the Department of Regulatory Agencies’ (DORA) Division of Insurance (DOI), announced health insurance plans and premium savings for Coloradans in 2025 thanks to Colorado’s landmark reinsurance program. Coloradans will save $477 million on premiums and avoid a nearly 23% premium increase, which would occur if reinsurance did not exist.
“Reinsurance savings help make healthcare more affordable for all Coloradans, keeping more of their hard-earned money in their pockets to save or spend. Colorado is leading the nation in saving people money on healthcare and the $477 million Coloradans will save on premiums in 2025 proves that what we are doing in Colorado works,” said Governor Polis.
On average, individual market insurance premiums would be 23% higher in 2025 without Reinsurance and that is simply an average. In many counties in the western half of Colorado, premiums would be more than 40% higher without Reinsurance. In Mesa County, premiums would be 43% higher if Reinsurance wasn’t in place. In total, the DOI estimates that Reinsurance will save $477 million for Coloradans in 2025, which by the end of 2025 will bring the total estimated savings to over $2 billion since it started in 2020.
“Ensuring all Coloradans have access to high-quality and affordable healthcare is foundational for me, both personally and professionally. When we invest in the health and well-being of Coloradoans, we create a stronger, more resilient home for all of us. I am proud of our work to help ensure costs do not hinder our neighbors from getting the coverage they need, and thanks to the Reinsurance Program, Coloradoans will continue to see significant health care premium savings,” said Lt. Governor Primavera and Director of the Office of Saving People Money on Health Care.
Colorado Option
During last year’s open enrollment, 34% of all health insurance plan selections made through Connect for Health Colorado were for Colorado Option plans, an 188% increase in enrollment from the previous year.
For the 2025 plan year, the insurance companies filed 48 Colorado Option individual plans, which are offered at the bronze, silver and gold metal tiers. These Colorado Option individual plans will be available from six insurance companies, and there will be at least one company with a gold, silver and bronze level Colorado Option plan in every county across the state.
Preliminary review of the filings indicates that the average change in premiums for Colorado Option plans in the individual market will only be about a 4% average increase in premiums compared to non-Colorado Option plans, which show a 6% average increase.
I actually have Colorado's overall individual market premiums down as incrasing by 6.5% overall on a weighted statewide basis (at least the preliminary requested rates, anyway).
Small group plans are scheduled to increase by 8.1% overall if approved as is.
Oregon becomes 3rd in nation to seek federal approval for a basic health program
A group of volunteer advisors to the Oregon Health Authority has voted Tuesday to make the state the third in the nation to seek federal approval for a basic health program.
...The Oregon Health Policy Board voted unanimously to approve Oregon’s blueprint application. It was the last step in a lengthy policy-making process needed for state approval of the plan after a task force last year recommended moving forward with it.
Arkansas is a problematic state for many reasons, but I have to give their insurance dept. website high praise for posting their annual rate filings in a clear, simple & comprehensive fashion (which is to say, not only do they post the avg. premium changes for each carrier, they also post the number of covered lives for each, which is often difficult for me to dig up). Better yet, they also include direct links to the filing summaries and include the SERFF tracking number for each in case I need to look up more detailed info.
Anyway, there's nothing terribly noteworthy in the 2025 filings. Insurance carriers are seeking an average 4.2% rate hike on the individual market and 9.6% for small group plans.
HMO Partners (Health Advantage) appears to be dropping out of the small group market, but otherwise it looks pretty calm.
I last checked in on the "Georgia Pathways" program (the Peach State's partial-Medicaid expansion program which offiically extends up to 100% of the Federal Poverty Level but which also includes a draconian work reporting requirement) back in January.
At the time, only around 2,500 Georgians had actually enrolled in Georgia Pathways, for a number of rather obvious reasons:
Back in May I noted that North Carolina's ACA Medicaid expansion initiative, which started in December 2023, had officially enrolled more than 450,000 of the estimated 600,000 NC residents eligible for the program.
North Carolina Celebrates More Than 500,000 Enrolled in Medicaid Expansion
PRESS RELEASE — More than half a million North Carolinians have now enrolled in Medicaid expansion since the program began seven months ago. Beneficiaries are now able get the quality health care they need at low cost. Governor Roy Cooper was joined by North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kody Kinsley, Dr. Karen L. Smith MD, FAAFP, a family physician in Raeford and Verlina Lomick,CHW-IV, Director of Community Outreach & Advocacy for Kintegra Health and health care advocates to celebrate reaching this major milestone, which had originally been projected to take as long as two years.
Just yesterday I noted that the Michigan state senate has passed a bill to establish a state-based ACA exchange, joining 21 other states (Georgia is scheduled to launch theirs this fall, and Illinois in time for the 2026 Open Enrollment Period). The bill now moves to the state House, where I'm expecting it to pass and be signed into law by Gov. Whitmer without too much controversy. If so, Michigan would also split off of the federal exchange in time for the 2026 OEP.
Well, it turns out that another state may end up beating Michigan to the punch, and it's probably the last state you'd expect it to happen in: Mississippi!
Cut to 2024: Michigan Democrats now hold control of the state Senate as well as (barely) the House...and Democratic Representative Kevin Hertel is now Senator Kevin Hertel, who also happens to be the Health Policy Committee Chair...and one of his priorities this session, according to his latest constituent newsletter, is indeed to move Michigan to a state-based ACA exchange:
Legislative Updates
Expanding Access to Health Care Through a State-Based Exchange
Disclaimer: Health Sherpa is one of ACASignups.net's banner ad sponsors.
Over at the Wiley Online Library, Aleka Gurel, Director of Government Affairs at HealthSherpa, has published an excellent, in-the-weeds analysis of the history & impact of private insurance brokers & agents on ACA marketplace (on exchange) enrollment.
Here's an excerpt (note that this website is actually among the data sources she cites):
Across these 19 states alone, ACA Medicaid expansion enrollment is up 788,245 people since last March, or 6.7% overall. If you remove Missouri and Oklahoma, it's still up 4.28% since then, and again, this is still as much as 8 months out of date depending on the state. Assuming Illinois is wrong, removing it as well puts expansion enrollment up 5.4% since last March.
Assuming these states are representative, it's safe to assume that Medicaid expansion is up at least 4.3% nationally since March 2022, or around an additional 960,000 people. If you go with the higher end estimate (+5.4%), it would be up over 1.2 million nationally.
That puts the grand total at somewhere between 39.9 - 40.1 million people with ACA-enabled healthcare covered nationally.
