Dive Brief:
- New York insurers have submitted rate requests that would raise premiums for individual ACA plans in the state by an average of 17.3% for 2017, Bloomberg reported.
- The news is in step with requested rate hikes of 17.7% in Florida and 13.5% in Washington state.
- The increases raise concerns that the ACA will face stronger backlash, and become a more highly charged issue in the upcoming presidential election.
Dive Insight:
Though New York's individual ACA health plans would become less affordable under these requests, the state is unlikely to significantly push back because it will not want those plans that are already losing money to exit the market, according to Bloomberg.
Last year's insurer rate requests came to an average of 10.4%. Yet they were only permitted to increase by 7.1%.
Heading into 2017, about 10 to 12 percentage points of the requested hikes are due to increasing medical costs and the conclusion of federal support programs, Dave Dillon, an actuary at Lewis & Ellis, told Bloomberg.
Some insurers are working to limit their increases by adjusting their provider networks, Dillon added.
The requested rate actions from New York insurers run from a low of 6.1% to 89.1%. UnitedHealthcare, which has withdrawn from most other states for 2017, is requesting the second-highest hike of 45.6%.