2020 Rate Changes

Last month I noted that North Dakota had posted their requested 2020 premium rate change requests, including two different filings: One assuming the states' ACA Section 1332 Reinsurance Waiver didn't get approved, the other assuming it did. It was pretty unlikely that their waiver would be denied, however, so the general assumption was that they'd be looking at a significant rate reduction, especially compared with the rate increase if the waiver didn't go through.

At the time, I didn't have access to the actual enrollment figures for the three carriers on North Dakota's individual market, so I had to go with an unweighted average rate change, and came up with a drop of 7.9%.

Since then, however, the state regulators have reviewed and approved the 2020 premium changes, and thanks to Louise Norris, I don't even have to dig up the enrollment data:

Average rates dropping by nearly 6% in 2020 (without reinsurance, they’d have increased by nearly 15%)

In mid-July, the Connecticut Insurance Dept. reported that average requested premium rates for 2020 averaged around a 7.8% increase on the Individual market and 12.0% on the Small Group market.

This weekend, they reported the approved 2020 rate changes for both markets...and have cut down the rate hikes significantly for most carriers (while raising them a bit on a few others):

Insurance Commissioner Issues Decisions For 2020 Health Insurance Rates

Insurance Commissioner Andrew N. Mais today announced the Department has made final decisions on health insurance rate filings for the 2020 coverage year. As a result of these decisions, Connecticut consumers are projected to save approximately $54 million.

Back in early June, the Washington State Insurance Commissioner announced that preliminary rate filings for the ACA individual market in 2020 were averaging just 1.0% higher than this year. My own analysis brought the weighted average in at 1.4%, but whatever. The Small Group market requests also came in at an average increase of 6.7%.

A couple of days ago, the WA Insurance Dept. posted a press release with the final/approved rates for 2020, and they've managed to knock average premiums on the Individual market down by about 4 more points:

Kreidler approves record low average rate decrease of -3.27% for Exchange plans

Eight health insurers approved to sell in next year's Exchange marketplace

The Kentucky Insurance Dept. just announced their approved rate changes for unsubsidized ACA-compliant individual and small group market enrollees. They only shaved a little bit off of the proposed rates from late June, but every bit helps:

DOI Completes Review of Individual and Small-Group Health Insurance Rate Filings

The Kentucky Department of Insurance (DOI) announced today that it has completed its review of the individual and small-group insurance rates filed in the Kentucky market.  The rates will be used to calculate insurance premiums for the 2020 benefit year. 

I noted last month that Rhode Island was the latest state to put in for an ACA Section 1332 reinsurance program waiver:

Governor Raimondo’s proposed FY 2020 budget called for the creation of the Health Insurance Market Integrity Fund, which would make available reinsurance payments to health plans to reduce the burden of high cost claims on individual market premiums. According to insurer filings, the enactment of the Health Insurance Market Integrity Fund would reduce the individual market premium requests from 6.6% to -0.4% for BCBSRI and from 5.4% to 1.7% for NHPRI. These insurers’ pricing assumptions are subject to review and verification by OHIC. Table 1 shows the requested individual market rate increases with and without reinsurance.

Back in June I noted that Maine's Bureau of Professional & Financial Regulation released their preliminary 2020 rate filings for the Individual and Small Group markets. At the time, the three carriers on their Indy market were requesting average rate increases of around 4.7% next year.

In July I reported that the carriers themselves sliced their unsubsidized 2020 rates down of their own volition, to a 1.6% decrease on average.

Last week, after a public comment meeting, it looks like the Maine Insurance Dept. went ahead and approved the lower, revised rates for all three individual market carriers.

Last month I posted the average requested unsubsidized premium rate changes for the 2020 Individual Market in Ohio. At the time, the state was looking at a weighted average reduction of 7.0% from 2019 rates.

Since then, the Ohio Dept. of Insurance has reviewed and approved the rates for 2020, and while they don't provide much detail on individual carriers, overall it looks like they reduced rates slightly more (average reduction of 7.7%). The wording below is almost identical to what it was last month, except for the highlighted text:

Last month I reported on Tennessee's preliminary 2020 premium rate filings. At the time, the weighted average rate change for ACA Individual Market policies was a 1.1% reduction over this year.

Today, the Tennessee Insurance Dept. officially approved the rate changes exactly as is, without making any changes one way or the other:

TDCI Approves Carriers’ 2020 Rates on the Federally Facilitated Marketplace
More Choices, Rate Decrease Highlight Rating Filing Season

The Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance (TDCI) announces the approval of insurance rates requested by the five carriers offering coverage on the Federally Facilitated Marketplace (FFM) in 2020.

Back in mid-June, the DC Health Benefit Exchange Authority posted the preliminary, requested average unsubsidized 2020 premium changes for the Individual and Small Group markets:

Overall individual rates increased an average of 9.0 percent and small group rates increased an average of 10.5 percent. In the individual market, CareFirst proposed an average increase of 7.7 percent for HMO plans, and 15.6 percent for PPO plans. Kaiser proposed an average increase of 5.0 percent. For small group plans, CareFirst filed average rate increases of 13.5 percent for HMO plans and 18.5 percent for the PPO plans. Kaiser small group rates proposed an average increase of 3.0 percent. Aetna filed for an average increase of 16.1 percent for HMO plans and 5.0 percent for PPO plans. Finally, United proposed an average increase of 13.0 percent and 7.4 percent for its two HMOs and 11.2 percent for its PPO plans.

This is what it looked like at the time:

via the Montana Insurance Commissioner's office:

REINSURANCE LOWERS HEALTH INSURANCE RATES FOR 2020

• New Program Championed by Rosendale Leads to Double-Digit Rate Decreases in the Individual Market

HELENA, Mont. – State Auditor Matt Rosendale announced today that every health insurance plan sold on the individual market in Montana will have lower rates next year, largely due a new program that he’s championed for the past two years.