State Insurance Commissioner Approves 12 Health Insurance Providers for Individual Market; Two More Under Review [The Chronicle, Centralia, Wash.]

Sep. 14—The Washington state Insurance Commissioner's office released a statement on Wednesday announcing 12 health insurance providers had been approved to sell insurance in Washington's 2023 Exchange health insurance market.

The market is where people who do not get health insurance coverage from their employer shop for insurance. Two more providers are under review.

The average rate increase is 8.8%. The main factors behind the increase in rates are pent-up demand for elective surgeries and changes to the Affordable Care Act's risk adjustment program, which stabilizes the market by spreading the financial risk across all insurers.

"More than 200,000 people in Washington state get their health coverage through our individual market," said Washington state Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler. "It's critical they have choices for meaningful and affordable coverage, and I'm pleased to see our market doing so well. I know that premiums and cost-sharing are still high for many, especially those who don't qualify for subsidies, and we need to do more to address the underlying costs of health care."

An estimated 219,112 Washington residents are enrolled in health insurance plans through the individual. As of June 2021, the uninsurance rate in Washington state was 5.2%.

The 12 insurance providers approved to sell health insurance on the individual market are: Bridgespan Health Company, Community Health Plan of Washington, Coordinated Care Corporation, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Northwest, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Washington, LifeWise Health Plan of Washington, Molina Healthcare of Washington, Inc., PacificSource Health Plan, Premera Blue Cross, Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon, Regence BlueShield and UnitedHealthcare of Oregon, Inc.

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