ATTORNEY GENERAL TONG URGES CONNECTICUT INSURANCE DEPARTMENT TO REJECT DOUBLE-DIGIT HEALTH INSURANCE RATE HIKE REQUESTS

The following information was released by the office of the Connecticut Attorney General:

In a letter today to Connecticut Insurance Commissioner Josh Hershman, Attorney General William Tong urged the rejection of double-digit rate hikes sought by Anthem, ConnectiCare and UnitedHealthcare for individual and small group plans covering approximately 220,000 people across Connecticut.

The Connecticut Insurance Department will hold a public information session on the rate requests beginning at 9 a.m. on Wednesday August 26 at the Legislative Office Building.

"These insurers are, once again, requesting rate increases that exceed other inflationary and general economic growth measures. To put it bluntly: never-ending insurance rate increases reflect a broken system that does not deliver affordable healthcare for the struggling citizens of Connecticut. Once again, these increases and plan design changes project another year of consumers getting less for more," Attorney General Tong states in his letter.

Attorney General Tong's letter commends the Insurance Department for assessing not just the actuarial underpinning of the rates, but also the underlying cost drivers of those rates, including ever-rising prescription drug costs, reimbursements to large health systems that are increasingly consolidated and corporatized.

Attorney General Tong takes the insurance carriers to task for failing to ensure their reimbursement rates reflect actual costs of service, and for failing to show they are curbing upcoding and fraudulent billing practices by returning those savings to consumers.

"Consumers are paying significant out of pocket costs and believe me they notice when they have to pay a substantial deductible charge for a service they did not ask for and did not receive. It is not uncommon for my Office to hear from patients when they notice they were charged for an emergency department visit after receiving care at an urgent care center or billed at an acuity level reflecting a life-threatening condition that did not match their non-life threatening symptoms," Attorney General Tong states.

Attorney General Tong's letter calls out ConnectiCare for the mismanagement of the migration of its claims payment systems to Molina Healthcare. "It is deeply concerning that the carrier requesting the highest increases should have provided some of the worst customer service during that transition and should have been so ill prepared for that transition many months after its acquisition was approved by the Connecticut Insurance Department," Attorney General Tong states.

For individual plans, Anthem is seeking an average increase of 12.8 percent. ConnectiCare is seeking an average increase of 22.7 for individual plans. For small group plans, Anthem is seeking an average increase of 17.4. United Healthcare is seeking an average increase of 18.9 percent.

Pursuant to Connecticut law, in order for these rates to be approved, the Connecticut Insurance Department must determine that these requested rates are not "excessive, inadequate, or unfairly discriminatory."

Assistant Attorney General Tom Ryan assisted the Attorney General in this matter.