Health Insurance

Health Insurance Companies Request Average 20.4% Rate Hike For 2023

July 10, 2022 Billie S. Dickenson
Insurance Department chart of rate hike requests for health insurance plans offered on Connecticut's health insurance exchange.
Insurance Department chart of rate hike requests for health insurance plans offered on Connecticut’s health insurance exchange. Credit: Screengrab / Connecticut Insurance Department

Nine insurance companies have asked the state Insurance Department to approve double-digit rate hikes for individual and small business health insurance plans that start in 2023. The proposed average individual rate request is a 20.4% increase compared to 8.6% in 2022.

The department “has received 13 rate filings from nine health insurers for plans that will be offered on the individual and small group market, both on and off the state-sponsored exchange, Access Health CT,” Insurance Department Commissioner Andrew Mais said. “Working within the authority granted to this department, we will closely examine these filings to make sure the requested rates are consistent with state law.”

ConnectiCare Benefits is proposing an average 24.1% increase for its individual plans offered on the exchange. 

Insurance Department chart of rate hike requests for off-exchange <a href=health insurance plans in Connecticut.”
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Insurers seek average rate hike of 20% on Access Health CT plans in 2023

July 9, 2022 Billie S. Dickenson

Insurance companies that sell policies on and off Connecticut’s Affordable Care Act exchange are seeking an average increase of 20.4% on individual health plans next year, alarming advocates who fear people will forgo insurance because they can’t pay.

The rate hike requests were released by the state Insurance Department Friday. On small group plans, the carriers are asking for an average increase of 14.8%.

The requested increases are substantially higher than those sought last year for 2022 health policies. Carriers in 2021 asked for an average hike of 8.6% on individual plans and 12.9% on small group plans.

“It’s jaw dropping,” said Lynne Ide, program lead for communications outreach and engagement at the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut. “Looking at these rate requests, the ranges are off the charts.

“Our big concern right now is, coupled with inflation and the fallout from COVID, these proposed increases spell trouble.

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Group Health Plans and Abortion: Implications of Supreme Court Decision | Baker Donelson

July 7, 2022 Billie S. Dickenson

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, employers are questioning what impact, if any, this decision will have on their group health plans. In the Dobbs decision, the Supreme Court reversed 50 years of precedent by ruling that the Constitution does not provide for a right to abortion and therefore that states have the Constitutional right to legislate abortion. How, then, does this ruling impact employer-sponsored group health plans? In this alert we address four items of immediate concern and expect to supplement this analysis as this drastic change in the law develops.

1. Must a Group Health Plan Provide Coverage for Abortions?

There are no federal laws or regulations that require an employer-sponsored group health plan to provide coverage for elective abortions. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, as amended (ACA), set forth standards that require coverage

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Colorado continues innovative approach to reducing health care costs – State of Reform

July 3, 2022 Billie S. Dickenson

Colorado became the first state in the country to have a state-designed health care insurance option for its residents approved by CMS last Thursday.

Approval of the Colorado Option through the federal 1332 waiver now means the state can proceed with rate setting for its standardized health insurance plan, which is mandated to be sold at lower prices and should be finalized by summer’s end to take effect in 2023, culminating a decade’s worth of health policy efforts aimed at reducing health care costs.

 

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Those efforts include the state’s reinsurance program, which was extended for an additional 5 years last year and spreads risk across the health insurance market to help insurers pay expensive claims, and the Hospital Provider Fee that supports hospitals serving Medicaid and uninsured patients.

The Division of

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Gov. Wolf Urges Congress to Preserve Affordable Care Act Subsidies to Ensure Health Care Remains Affordable for Tens of Thousands of Pennsylvanians

July 2, 2022 Billie S. Dickenson


Healthcare,  Press Release

Governor Tom Wolf is urging Congress to take action to preserve Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies to ensure that individuals and families who were eligible for this important subsidy may continue to obtain health care. 

In a joint letter, Gov. Wolf and 13 other governors urged Congress to take action and ensure funding is in place to preserve ACA subsidies known as advanced premium tax credits
(APTCs), which were expanded through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. The ARPA-expanded subsidy eligibility is set to expire at the end of the current plan year, leaving consumers exposed to dramatic premium increases.

“Tens of thousands of Pennsylvanians will be impacted if this subsidy expansion expires in December, which will mean their insurance premiums will increase, putting individuals in a health and financial risk. It’s critical that we continue to make affordable coverage as accessible as possible to as

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Health insurance premiums through marketplace poised to jump in 2023

July 1, 2022 Billie S. Dickenson

The Good Brigade | Digitalvision | Getty Images

If you get your health insurance through the government Health Insurance Marketplace, you may want to brace for higher premiums next year.

Unless Congress takes action, enhanced premium subsidies — technically, tax credits — that have been in place for 2021 and 2022 will disappear after this year. The change would affect 13 million of the 14.5 million people who get their health insurance through the federal exchange or their state’s marketplace.

“The default is that the expanded subsidies will expire at the end of this year,” said Cynthia Cox, a vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation and director of its Affordable Care Act program. “On average, premiums would go up more than 50%, but for some it will be more.”

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New Study: Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Produces +47% Return on Investment for American Businesses

June 30, 2022 Billie S. Dickenson

Washington, D.C. — Employers in the United States this year will earn an average return on investment (ROI) of 47% from their employer-sponsored health insurance (ESI) programs, according to a new study from Avalere Health. This means for every dollar spent on ESI, employers get back $1.47 in financial benefits. The analysis from the health data firm finds that the average ROI is projected to grow to 52% in 2026, and that businesses that invest more in their ESI programs tend have a higher ROI. 

While providing employees high quality health insurance is the right thing to do for workers, the report shows how it makes business sense. Avalere attributes the direct financial return for employers to lower direct medical costs, increased productivity, lower recruitment costs, stronger retention, lower short- and long-term disability costs, as well as tax benefits. More than 155 million Americans currently get their health insurance

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They Thought They Were Buying Obamacare Plans. What They Got Wasn’t Insurance.

June 28, 2022 Billie S. Dickenson

[UPDATED on June 8]

Tina Passione needed health insurance in a hurry in December. The newly retired 63-year-old was relocating to suburban Atlanta with her husband to be closer to grandchildren. Their house in Pittsburgh flew off the market, and they had six weeks to move out 40 years of memories.

Passione said she went online to search for the federal health insurance marketplace, clicked on a link, and entered her information. She promptly got multiple calls from insurance brokers and bought a plan for $384 a month. Later, though, when she went to a pharmacy and doctor offices in Georgia, she was told she did not have insurance.

In fact, it said it right on her card: “THIS IS NOT INSURANCE.”

Passione is one of 10 consumers who told KHN that they thought they were buying insurance but learned later that they had been sold a membership to a

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Health insurers to pay $1 billion in rebates to 8.2 million people this year

June 27, 2022 Billie S. Dickenson

Sdi Productions | E+ | Getty Images

There’s a chance your health insurance company owes you some cash.

Depending on how you get your coverage, you may be one of the 8.2 million policyholders expected to get a piece of $1 billion in premium rebates this fall from various insurers, according to a preliminary analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

The amount is down from $2 billion issued in 2021 and a record $2.5 billion in 2020.

“In the last couple of years we’ve seen some really large rebates — twice the size of this year’s amount,” said Cynthia Cox, a vice president at the foundation and director of its Affordable Care Act program. “But I’d say $1 billion is still significant.”

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How to pay

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Possible Expiration of Pandemic-Era Measures Among Drivers of 2023 Health Insurance Premium Changes

June 25, 2022 Billie S. Dickenson

WASHINGTON, June 22, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — The American Academy of Actuaries has released a public policy issue brief that points to the possible expiration of two signature pandemic-era measures that boosted health insurance affordability and coverage as among the drivers of potential premium changes for individual and small group plans in 2023.

American Academy of Actuaries. (PRNewsFoto/American Academy of Actuaries)

American Academy of Actuaries. (PRNewsFoto/American Academy of Actuaries)

“Proposed health insurance premium rates reflect many factors, which can include the effects of legislative and regulatory changes,” said Academy Senior Health Fellow Cori Uccello. “This is especially true for 2023 rates, due to the possible expiration later this year of enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium subsidies and of a key support of Medicaid coverage during the pandemic.”

The issue brief, developed by the Academy’s Individual and Small Group Markets Committee, Drivers of 2023 Health Insurance Premium Changes, discusses these key factors and others that may account

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