CT elected officials criticize double-digit rate increases sought by health insurers, demand public hearing [Hartford Courant]

Hartford Courant (CT)

A group of Connecticut officials on Wednesday assailed proposed double-digit increases in health insurance rates at a time of red-hot inflation and the enduring pandemic, demanding that the Insurance Department schedule a formal hearing to question industry executives and present independent analysis.

“We want to test face-to-face what they’re saying,” Attorney General William Tong said at a Hartford news conference. “We want to put on actuarial, mathematical evidence that supports our position that these increases are extreme and unnecessary right now and too burdensome and unreasonable and give an opportunity for insurers and their actuaries and their experts to do the same.”

Insurance Commissioner Andrew Mais said in an emailed statement the agency will stick to its practice of scheduling a rate hearing that takes testimony from consumers, consumer advocates, elected officials and other interested parties.

Final 2023 rates will be announced following the hearing and an actuarial review, he said. A date for early August will be announced this week.

“The department is fully committed to consumer protection and transparency, which is why our hearings are all open to the public and broadcast over the public affairs CT-N Network,” Mais said.

That’s not good enough for Tong and fellow Democrats looking to interrogate insurance executives and force them to defend the rate increases.

Healthcare Advocate Ted Doolittle said ratepayers are not part of negotiations over insurance pricing and a vigorous public hearing is the first step to ask “unfiltered questions and get on-the-record-responses” from insurance carriers.

Insurance companies that sell policies on and off Connecticut’s Affordable Care Act exchange are seeking an average increase of 20.4% for individual health plans next year, according to details released Friday by the Connecticut Insurance Department.

Carriers on small group plans are asking for an average increase of 14.8%.

Kimberly Kann, a spokeswoman for ConnectiCare, cited medical and pharmaceutical costs and the continued impacts of COVID-19 on members’ use of services, including obtaining delayed care. She also cited the expiration this year of tax credits provided in the American Rescue Plan Act.

“We remain extremely mindful of the impact that rate increases have on our members and strive to keep our plans as fairly priced as possible within the reality of today’s health care environment,” Kann said.

Lynne Ide, director of program and policy for the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, an advocacy group, called on the Insurance Department to abandon its practice of scheduling public hearings at its Hartford offices during the day. The agency should instead make it possible for “real, every day people” to attend a night meeting at a community college or other accessible site “and talk about what this really means to them.”

Senate Republicans have demanded a public hearing at the Capitol. They said the proposed rate increases are “outrageous, unacceptable, but sadly not surprising.”

“We are pleased that Democrats, too, say they want a hearing on this issue, but we need much more than the the typical rate increase hearings of the past where a select few gather behind closed doors in a small office before executive branch staff,” said Senate Republican Leader Kevin Kelly of Stratford, House Republican Leader Vincent Candelora of North Branford and Senate Republican Leader Pro Tem Paul Formica of East Lyme.

Republicans criticized legislative Democrats for failing to anticipate the termination of federal relief money, expanding government-run Medicaid that they say has driven up health care costs and inflation they blame on the pandemic and spending by President Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress.

Sen. Matt Lesser, co-chairman of the legislature’s Insurance Committee, said Republican criticism of Democratic health care initiatives in the General Assembly included a “certain amount of chutzpah,” accusing GOP lawmakers of blocking legislation.

Stephen Singer can be reached at [email protected].