The Oregon Division of Financial Regulation (DFR) has finalized the rate decisions for 2025 health insurance for the individual and small group markets. The division reviews and approves rates for these markets through a detailed and transparent public process before they can be charged to policyholders.
This transparent process includes actuarial analysis provided to the public, public hearings, and a public comment period. Annually, insurance companies submit rate filings for the upcoming plan year. These filings are rigorously reviewed by division actuaries during a monthslong public review process. That process is now final and Oregonians will see an average rate increase of 8.3 percent in the individual market and a 12.2 percent increase in the small group markets.
Massachusetts, which is arguably the original birthplace of the ACA depending on your point of view (the general "3-legged stool" structure originated here, but the ACA itself also has a lot of other provisions which are quite different), has 9 different carriers participating in the individual market in 2025. This is down from ten this year--ConnectiCare appears to be dropping out of the Massachusetts market.
One thing which sets Massachusetts (along with Vermont) apart from every other state is that their Individual and Small Group risk pools are merged for premium setting purposes.
Normally you would think this would make my job easier, since I only have to run one set of analysis instead of two...but until recently, it was surprisingly difficult to get ahold of exact enrollment data for each carrier on the merged Massachusetts market (and even more difficult to break out how many are enrolled in each market since they're merged...not that that's relevant to the actual rate changes).
OLYMPIA, Wash. — Thirteen health insurers filed an average requested rate increase of 11.3% for Washington's individual health insurance market. The proposed plans and their rates are currently under review and final decisions will be made this fall.
"I recognize that any proposed increase in price is deeply upsetting to those struggling to pay for coverage today,” said Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler. “People should know that these rates are not final and my office will be carefully reviewing each request to validate the assumptions being made by our state’s insurers. We will do everything under our authority ensure that any rate changes are justified."
Health Carriers Propose Affordable Care Act Premium Rates for 2025 New carrier files to enter individual market statewide
BALTIMORE – The Maryland Insurance Administration has received the 2025 proposed premium rates for Affordable Care Act products offered by health and dental carriers in the individual, non-Medigap and small group markets, which impact approximately 496,000 Marylanders. This includes rate submissions from Wellpoint Maryland Inc., an HMO that will begin offering Affordable Care Act products in Maryland for the first time.
Each year insurers that sell Individual and Small Group plans in Maine's pooled risk market must submit their proposed forms and rates to the Bureau of Insurance, using the System for Electronic Rate and Form Filing (SERFF). Details of the filings submitted to the state since June 10, 2010 can be viewed in the system.
To see details of a filing, click on the Search Public Filings button below and paste or type in the relevant SERFF Tracking Number listed in the table (no need to complete the rest of the form).
There's a couple of noteworthy items going on here:
I'm pleasantly surprised to report that after several years of Kentucky's rate filings being heavily redacted, this year at least (and hopefully going forward), I was able to acquire the actual enrollment data for all of them...not just the individual market, but the small group market as well!
There are four carriers offering policies on the KY individual market (Anthem, CareSource, Molina and WellCare), with an weighted average rate change request of 8.5%, while the small group carriers are requesting steeper average increases of 17.8% for what seems to be shrinking market.
UPDATE 9/19/24: OK, it looks like the approved rate filings have been uploaded to the SERFF database. Average unsubsidized individual market premiums will be going up 7.9%, while small group rates will see a 16.6% average increase.
(Washington)– The District of Columbia Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking (DISB) has received 193 proposed health insurance plan rates for annual review in advance of open enrollment for plan year 2025. The proposed rates were submitted for DC Health Link, the District of Columbia’s health insurance marketplace, from CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, Kaiser and United Healthcare.
The proposed rates are for individuals, families and small businesses for the 2025 plan year. Overall, the number of plans submitted for 2025 is down by 22 from those submitted for 2024. The number of small group plans decreased from 188 to 166 while the number of individual plans remained at 27.
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.
The big news on the individual market is that Aetna is seeking massive rate hikes of over 34% next year, though the weighted average across the board being requested is "only" a still ugly 13.3% increase.
On the small group market, average increases are the lower but still-not-great 8.8%. More significantly here is that Aetna and Optimum Choice are pulling out of the Delaware small group market entirely, reducing the number of carriers from six to just two, since Aetna had three divisions operating there.
The overall proposed average rate increase for 2025 Indiana individual marketplace plans is -1.6%.
The IDOI will finalize the review of the 2025 ACA compliant filings both on and off the federal Marketplace by August 16, 2024. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will issue the ultimate approval for the Marketplace plans sold in Indiana. CMS will issue its approval on or before September 18, 2024.
