Health and Human Services (HHS) announced today that health insurance premium increases in nine states have been deemed “unreasonable” under the rate review authority created by the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
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Get Your Report Now!In the decisions announced today, HHS determined, after independent expert review, that two insurance companies have proposed unreasonable health insurance premium increases in nine states—Arizona, Idaho, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. The excessive rate hikes would affect over 42,000 residents across these nine states.
In these nine states, the insurers have requested rate increases as high as 24 percent, according to a HHS press release. These increases were reviewed by independent experts to determine whether they are reasonable. In this case, HHS determined that the rate increases were unreasonable, because the insurer would be spending a low percentage of premium dollars on actual medical care and quality improvements, and because the justifications were based on unreasonable assumptions.
Most rates are reviewed by states and many states have the authority to reject unreasonable premium increases. Since the passage of the health care law, the number of states with this authority increased from 30 to 37, with several states extending existing “prior authority” to new markets.
Additional information is available at http://companyprofiles.healthcare.gov/.