Despite urges from the Obama administration to the contrary, insurance regulators throughout the country are approving hefty rate increases proposed by the nation’s health insurers.
In Tennessee, the largest health plan in the state secured a 36.3% increase. One state over, Kentucky’s insurance commissioner approved a 25.1% increase. Oregon residents will see an average 25.6% increase for their biggest health plan, and in Idaho, a Blue Cross plan will raise its rates by 23%.
More modest – but still double-digit – increases come in Ohio (14.5%) and Michigan (11.4%).
While commissioners have called the raise in premiums “disappointing,” they have sided with insurers who say higher pricing is necessary due to the lower-than-expected rates of healthy policyholders.
“Politics, and any opposition to the ACA, doesn’t have anything to do with it,” said Tennessee Insurance Commissioner Julie Mix McPeak. “Do I wish [rates] were lower? Absolutely, because I know what it means to consumers.”
But the reality is that several insurers, including those in Tennessee, priced plans relatively cheaply during the first and second years of enrollment, eager to snap up new shoppers. Now facing significant losses, those same companies are revising their pricing.
The Obama administration has used the rate increases to remind consumers to return to the online healthcare marketplaces. While consumers will automatically be reenrolled in their current plan if they don’t act by December 15, White House spokespeople have said shopping around is the best way to guarantee affordable rates.
“Last year, more than half of re-enrolling customers on HealthCare.gov actively shopped and selected a new plan, something that wasn’t possible for many consumers prior to the ACA due to the risk of being charged a higher premium or denied coverage entirely due to a pre-existing condition,” said spokesman Katie Hill.
Not all states have approved rate increases, and in others, premium hikes were relatively modest. In Indiana, Anthem asked for and received a 2.8% increase and in Virginia, the insurer reduced its initial request of 13.2% to 8.6%. In Arkansas, BlueCross and Blue Shield were approved for an average increase of 7.15%.
Open enrollment for the 2016 season begins November 1.
