The state agency granted MVP Health Plan a 10.24 percent hike, compared with its 13.48 percent request. The Department of Health and Human Services found in June that “most people will be enrolled in plans with proposed rate increases of less than 10 percent”.
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As they have done previously, DFS approves increases below what the companies initially ask for.
Today’s report examines changes in the number of health insurance issuers and premiums between open enrollment periods for the 2014 and 2015 plan years in the 35 states that used the HealthCare.gov platform in both years.
HealthNow, which owns BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York, wanted to raise individual rates by 6.68 percent and small group rates by 8.06 percent, but regulators instead ordered the carrier to lower individual rates by 1.32 percent while slashing the small group hike to just 0.66 percent.
Coupled with other recent reports corroborating those findings, the study’s authors said it shows that expansion of Medicaid to even more states would result in benefits for low-income populations. Health Republic had requested increases of 14.36 and 20 percent. We are working closely with the NYS Department of Health on reforms to the health care payment and delivery system, including efforts to shift away from the costly “fee-for-service” model.
We will have a better sense of just what next year’s insurance markets will look like and what’s driving premium changes when final and comprehensive numbers come in this fall.
“NY State of Health provides many options for consumers, and it pays to shop around on that marketplace”, said Donna Frescatore, the program’s executive director, said in a statement.
Many of those living in New York are still unable to afford health insurance coverage, despite the provisions of the Affordable Care Act.
Since the state’s insurance marketplace, Covered California, made its balky debut in October 2013, some 1.4 million people have bought private health coverage, most with federal subsidies.
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Big increases in the price of one insurance product, however, don’t necessarily represent overall trends. Twenty-nine percent of the remaining uninsured are Latinos who are eligible but have not signed up for coverage. As for income, 66.9 percent make at or below the 138 percent of the federal poverty level. Such laws require insurers to either cover or offer expanded services that benefit particular populations and providers. Each state has a different process for releasing rates, and analysts say they will not know the complete picture until closer to the next open-enrollment period, which begins in November. Health plans have argued that rates need to rise to keep up with the increasing costs of health care, including expensive specialty drugs. But, for now, the picture is generally the same as it has been for a long time: The law has largely succeeded in reducing the rate of uninsured without wrecking the insurance business.
