Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island and Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island have called for individual marketing plans to be sold for people who do not receive insurance through their employer. Blue Cross Blue Shield requested a 9.6% rate hike in the next year, and Neighborhood requested a 6.8% hike.
Melanie Coon, a spokesperson for Blue Cross Blue Shield, said in an email to the Globe that actual rate increases will vary depending on age and plan selection. He said the required rate increases were taken into account by “significant inflation in the cost of goods and services across all sectors of the economy, including medical services and drugs, and the return to pre-pandemic levels of ‘health care”.
Blue Cross Blue Shield, Neighborhood Health, UnitedHealthcare, and Tufts Health have all unveiled small-group market plans.
UnitedHealthcare requested the largest increase among all insurers at 12.3% under the HMO plan and a 10.8% rate increase under the PPO plan. This is compared with the company requesting the state to approve a 17.5% rate hike on the HMO plan and a 10.7% hike under the PPO plan in 2022.
A UnitedHealthcare spokesperson did not immediately respond to the Globe for comment.
Blue Cross Blue Shield, the state’s largest health insurer with nearly 41,000 people enrolled in their small group plan in March, requested an 11.7% increase. Neighborhood Health requested a 9.3% increase.
Elizabeth McClaine, vice president of commercial products at Neighborhood Health, said in an e-mailed statement that the majority of member awards will be “significantly offset by increases in tax credits on upfront premiums.”
“The neighborhood offers the two cheapest health plans on the state health insurance market,” McClaine said. “Even with the proposed rate hike for 2023, the neighborhood will still be the cheapest option as we have done for the past nine years.”
Five insurers, including Blue Cross Blue Shield, UnitedHealthcare, Tufts Health Plan, Aetna, and Cigna, have filed large group rates. Aetna requested the highest rate hike to 13.4% while UnitedHealthcare requested the lowest rate hike to 11.3%.
Tigue, which is expected to approve, amend or reject proposed tariffs between mid- to late August, said in 2022 that he was deeply concerned about the sharp hikes in required tariffs, which jumped to 20% last year.
“Recently, health insurers have generated substantial profits as a result of the curtailment of medical services experienced during the 2019 coronavirus disease public health emergency,” he said at the time.
But on Friday, Tigue said these proposed rate hikes demonstrated the “continuing need for shared responsibility by insurers and providers to address the underlying costs of health care in order to promote affordability for Rhode consumers and businesses.” Island “.
Cory King, a policy director in the Tigue office, said the Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner will review each health insurer’s coverage and consumer indemnity agreements to “ensure that the plans sold in Rhode Island suit everyone. the standards of member benefits, access and cost-sharing required by state and federal law ”.
The office will accept public comments on proposed rates until July 12 in writing and will also listen to public comments in a virtual town hall in July. 7.
You can contact Alexa Gagosz at [email protected] Follow her on Twitter @alexagagosz and on Instagram @AlexaGagosz.