State Insurance Department announces cuts to 2025 health plan rate requests

Insurance Commissioner Andrew N. Mais

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The state Insurance Department has cut the requested rate increases for health insurance plans to be offered in 2025, saying the reductions will save plan members nearly $60 million.

State Insurance Commissioner Andrew N. Mais said Friday that his department reduced health insurers’ 2025 requested rates for individual and small group plans offered on and off the state Access Health CT exchange. The department does not regulate self-funded plans, which fall under the authority of the U.S. Department of Labor.

For individual insurance market rate increase requests, the original average rate increase of 8.3% has been reduced by an average of 29%, Mais said, resulting in an average increase of 5.9%.

Similarly, the department cut small group insurance by 35% of the requested premium increases, resulting in an average increase of 7.8% rather than the requested average increase of 11.9%, he said.

The Insurance Department had received eight filings from seven health insurers seeking increases for fully insured individual and small group plans that cover approximately 200,000 people.

After completing an actuarial review and initially reducing the originally requested rate increases, the department projects the savings to those in Connecticut covered by the plans for the 2025 benefit plan year at approximately $59.8 million.

That figure includes holding Connecticut insurance companies’ profit margins to 0.75%, the department said.

Anthem Health Plans had requested an average increase for individual plans on the Access Health CT exchange of 9%, with a range of 4.3% to 18%. The department instead approved an average increase of 6.4%, with a range of 1.6% to 15.4%. Anthem’s plans cover 63,277 people.

The largest increase for an individual plan on the exchange went to Connecticare Insurance Co. Inc., which requested an average increase of 12.5%, with a range of 10.8% to 15.1%. The state approved an 11.8% increase, with a range of 10.2% to 14.5%. The plan covers nearly 4,400 people.

ConnectiCare Benefits Inc. had requested a 7.4% increase, with a range of 6.4% to 9%, for its on-exchange plan, but was approved for a 5.1% increase with a range of 4.1% to 6.6%. Its plan covers 73,465 people.

For small group plans on the exchange, Anthem Health requested a 13.6% increase with a range of 7.9% to 18.8%, but was approved for a 9.2% increase with a range of 3.6% to 14.5%. Its plan covers 37,667 people.

Off the exchange, ConnectiCare Inc. sought a 9.1% increase for its individual plan but was approved for a 7.8% hike. Its plan covers 960 people.

For small group plans off the exchange, Oxford Health Plans (CT) Inc. sought a 5.1% increase but that was reduced to 1.6%. Their plan covers 1,083 people.

Oxford Health Insurance Inc. sought an 8.9% increase but that was cut to 5.3%, for a plan that serves 17,411 people.

UnitedHealthcare Insurance Co. sought a 9% increase but was approved for a 5.4% hike, for a plan that covers 1,534 people.

The state noted that Aetna and Cigna are no longer participating in the small group market, which serves employers with 50 or fewer employees.

Health insurance premiums are affected by several factors, including medical costs, which have surged by nearly 9% over the past year, and prescription expenses, which have risen between 12% and 19%, the department said.

The increases are driven primarily by an increase in the number of patients accessing health care and the greater severity of disease, which can lead to advanced-stage treatments and an overall increase in healthcare spending, the department said.

The new rates are are available here.