Double-digit health insurance hikes coming

Lawmakers on both the left and right expressed outrage about double-digit increases approved for the premiums paid by the 220,000 Connecticut residents buying health insurance on the state's Affordable Care Act exchange.

The state Insurance Department announced on Friday the new rate increases approved for 2027 premiums: 11.3% for individuals 15.1% for small groups. About 6% of Connecticut's population is impacted by the new rates, but the increases reflect statewide trends in insurance and healthcare costs.

The hikes approved were about 30% less than what insurance companies asked for in their initial rate requests, according to the Insurance Department.

In a public information session last month, the companies that offer plans on the Access Health CT exchange cited factors including rising drug costs, higher customer use of healthcare and hospital consolidation in Connecticut for their higher rates.

Although state officials trimmed the rate requests by at least $100 million in premium costs, the surging price of medical care in Connecticut made double-digit increases necessary to keep companies in the market, Insurance Commissioner Josh Hershman said.

"We need to move beyond the annual debate over rates and address the underlying drivers of healthcare costs," Hershman said. "There are no winners when healthcare costs continue to rise at this pace."

Lawmakers and advocates were quick to slam the approved rates

"The hits just keep on coming for middle class families and job creators in unaffordable Connecticut," said state Sen. Dr. Jeff Gordon, R-Woodstock. "Send more Republicans to the State Capitol if you're sick of annual, unsustainable double-digit health insurance rate hikes."

The Connecticut Citizen Action Group echoed the criticism of the rate increases, but put the blame in part on Republican policies. The group released a report in August also spotlighting insurance companies' impact on healthcare costs through their growing ownership of physician practices, pharmacies and hospitals.

"At a time that we are all being squeezed by the Trump administration's inflation, to give these companies this level of an increase -- despite the outrageous profits, executive compensation and stock buybacks that we documented in our report last month -- is unconscionable," said Associate Director Liz Dupont-Diehl.

Attorney General William Tong urged all the parties involved in driving up healthcare costs to act to curb soaring increases.

"Again, Connecticut families are left to drown in ballooning premiums, deductibles, coinsurances and copays," Tong said in a statement. "We need insurers, hospitals, pharmacy benefit managers and every player from top to bottom at the table to earnestly negotiate cost relief way before these rate demands are crafted. This is completely unsustainable."

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