Dive Brief:
- Arizona, Colorado and Connecticut are the latest states to release 2017 ACA rate requests, and insurers continue to seek increases.
- The average, weighted rate increase request across 28 state exchanges and the District of Columbia is 21%, according to analyst Charles Gaba.
- Gaba’s ACASignups blog tallies tracks the total ACA-compliant individual market, including ACA-compliant off-exchange policies. It doesn’t include the small group market.
Dive Insight:
In Connecticut, Anthem is seeking a 26.8% rate hike, while ConnectiCare wants to raise rates by 14.3%. HealthyCT requested increases averaging 12.2%.
The Obamacare rate hike requests are even more dramatic in Colorado. Leading the pack is Golden Rule, with a 40.6% rate hike request, followed by Colorado Choice at 36.3%, and Rocky Mountain HMO at 34.6%.
Anthem, with just one individual HMO plan in Colorado, is seeking the same 26.8% hike it wants for Connecticut.
Elsewhere in Iowa, Wellmark — with 75% of the individual market — wants a 40% rate hike, while small player Medica is seeking 20%, Gaba noted.
Industry experts point to a number of factors that could be contributing to the rise in premiums:
- Increasing medical costs;
- The end of government programs designed to help cover ACA costs in early years;
- Miscalculating the number of enrollees with costly illnesses;
- Early strategic underpricing to gain a larger market share; and
- A higher than expected number of young people who have not yet signed up for an ACA plan.