Michigan: Insurance companies release preliminary 2015 premium rates; mixed bag all around

All 17 of the insurance companies participating in the federal ACA exchange this fall for Year Two of open enrollment have released their preliminary rate requests for 2015. It's important to stress preliminary, since the rates still have to be approved by the HHS Dept. Update: State insurance commissioner.

There could be some sticker shock, but some welcomed price cuts as well, when consumers go shopping for insurance this fall on the Michigan Health Insurance Marketplace, according to numbers the state released earlier today.

Overall, it appears that Michigan’s proposed average rate increase of just 2.2% is modest compared to changes in some other states, according to an ongoing analysis by consultant PricewaterhouseCoopers that so far has compared insurance pricing on more than a dozen state marketplaces.

That means the average premium cost in Michigan — $326.74 — remains lower than the national average premium of $360.

...At least four companies propose boosting premiums 9% or more, while others plan to slash those monthly costs by double-digit percentages. (See table: 2015 Michigan health insurance rates)

In Michigan BCBSM and Blue Care Network are king, with a combined 74% of the market this year; both want to bump up their rates by around 9.5%. While this isn't great, it's almost nominal considering that BCBSM jacked up my own familie's rate by nearly 100% in the prior 3 years. Meanwhile, 6 of their competitors are proposing to slash their rates by up to 21%.