Health insurers on the New York’s Obamacare exchanges are set to increase rates next year by 17.3 percent for individual policies, New York Daily News reported.
"The proposed increases, which must still be approved by the state’s Department of Financial Services, range from 6.1% sought by MVP Health Plan Inc. and HealthNow New York Inc., to a whopping 89% requested by Crystal Run Health Plan LLC."
"Everyone focuses on the rates plans are requesting while the factors that drive premiums continue to go unchecked," said Paul Macielak, president of the New York Health Plan Association.
"Macielak cited several additional factors that contributed to the hefty rate requests, including financial losses suffered by health plans after the state had lowered previous state requests and the added costs of absorbing new patients that were previously covered by the failed Health Republic Insurance co-op which collapsed last year," the article explains.
According to Bloomberg, Oscar Insurance Corp., is planning to increase individual rates by 18.4 percent, CareConnect Insurance is asking for an increase of 29.2 percent and UnitedHealth Group Inc. is looking to boost premiums in New York by 45.6 percent.
"Medical costs have gone up, government programs that helped cover our costs are ending, and our members needed more care than we expected," a letter from Oscar Insurance explained.