HARTFORD — The majority of insurers who sell individual and small group employer plans in Connecticut have asked for double-digit increases for next year’s policies, with average increases as high as 28 percent among plans that cover thousands of workers and their families.
Among eight sets of plans for individuals sold by six companies, the requests range from 6.6 percent, from Cigna, to 27.9 percent from Aetna.
The three companies selling individual plans through the Obamacare exchange — Anthem, ConnectiCare and the nonprofit HealthyCT — are asking for 26.8 percent, 14.3 percent and 12.2 percent increases, respectively.
Increases requested for small group plans, which are sold by eight companies, range from 5 percent for HealthyCT to 28 percent from Aetna.
The Connecticut Department of Insurance must approve rate increases, and it has a history of substantially revising requests.
Last year, for instance, Aetna asked for a 5.6 percent increase for its individual plans, and the department granted a 1.4 percent increase.
Anthem, which has 56,700 individual plans in Connecticut sold on the Obamacare exchange, is asking for a nearly 27 percent increase on average. Last year, it requested 4.7 percent and was allowed a 2.4 percent increase.
Andrew Markowski, state director of the National Federation of Independent Business, pointed to the requests as a sign Obamacare is not living up to its promises. “Just like so many other aspects of Obamacare, stabilizing premium rates has failed to come to fruition and our members will be the ones left having to compensate for the increased cost of health care for their employees,” he said Monday.
Employers or individuals may submit their comments to the Connecticut Department of Insurance or attend one of the public hearings on Aug. 3 and 4 at 153 Market St. in Hartford.
ConnectiCare told the department that claims were up far more on its individual policies that were sold outside the exchange than those on the exchange. It is asking for a 24 percent increase on average for its 37,142 customers outside the exchange (it has 47,597 on the exchange).
Aetna’s plans cover 36,067 workers and dependents at Connecticut companies, as well as 6,346 individuals. Spokesman Walt Cherniak said the company needs more premium dollars because the federal government is no longer paying for reinsurance when claims go past a certain ceiling, or making payments to help insurers that ended up with a more costly pool than others. Those payments were available to plans sold both on and off the Obamacare exchanges, as long as they were Obamacare compliant.
He said increased costs charged by health care providers and the increased cost of specialty drugs are also contributing to the requests for rate hikes.
He declined to say which factor was the largest reason for the rate increase.
Even if state regulators allow double-digit increases for plans on the exchange, individuals will not necessarily pay that kind of increase, because government subsidies will also increase.
Lynne Ide, director of program and policy at the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, said while any policyholder may email their thoughts about the increases, it’s a bit futile, because the department is considering business justifications from and solvency of the insurers.
“The Universal Health Care Foundation has been disappointed that the insurance department is pretty much precluded from considering affordability to the consumer in their rate review process,” Ide said.
“My first reaction is these are hefty increases. Even if they lower them, they’re still very difficult for people to bear. The question is, will more people walk away and choose to pay the penalty? That is a worry that we do have.”