State Officials, Industry Groups Call On Insurance Commissioner To Reject Rate Hike Request
A bipartisan coalition of elected leaders, state officials, industry groups, and advocacy organizations have called on the state's insurance commissioner to reject the latest request for rate hikes from the state's health insurers.
Insurers submitted requests for rate increases across the range of insurance plans available in the state. While the average rate increase request is between 5%-14%, some rate increases may go as high as 18.8%.
"I've been coming to these meetings for the past 10 years and every single year it is a rate increase," said Sen.
He continued: "You know, the landscape might have changed and the cost factors might have changed, but one thing has remained constant. You continue to ask for rate increases and that is where the frustration and the venting you will hear from many of my colleagues and many of your rate payers that feel as though you are tone deaf. That you are not listening to them about outlandish executive compensation and all the largess of corporate benefits that are on the backs of rate payers in this state."
"Today, vital tools used by health plans at the request of insurance purchasers are under attack. Members of the
Rousseau singled out Senate Bill 6, which allows consumers to get only one prior authorization for prescription drugs, as an example of a state mandate which increases costs.
"This past legislative session, the actuarial firm
Attorney General
"It is hard to comprehend why managed care companies fail to bring premiums and their underlying cost drivers in line with other products and services that consumers purchase," Tong wrote. "Instead, we are informed each year of unit costs that far outstrip inflation as a forgone conclusion, without any explanation for why the costs cannot be curtailed through negotiation."
Tong said that the insurance companies are "perversely incentivized" to continue increasing rates.
"Historically, insurers have cost-shifted these increases to consumers through direct rate increases and by offering higher deductible plans, instead of challenging the runaway unit cost problem directly through hard negotiations with providers. Thus, the overall cost of care continues to skyrocket," he added.
The
"Addressing rising commercial healthcare costs will require action to eliminate national health insurance company administrative practices that raise costs and ensuring that the state Medicaid program pays rates that actually cover the cost of care.Connecticut hospitals provide high-quality care to anyone who walks through their doors, regardless of ability to pay," the statement said. "We must continue pursuing policies that will help improve affordability without jeopardizing the world-class healthcare delivery offered to every resident or reducing access to critical healthcare services, especially in underserved communities."
"As people in our state struggle to make ends meet, they cannot continue to absorb costs just so these corporations can spend billions on stock buybacks and tens of millions on their executives' compensation packages," said
According to data provided by CCAG, in 2023,
------------
Is Hartford Really That Expensive?
Republish This Story
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a
X
Republish this article
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
This post originally appeared at CTNewsJunkie.com.
Unless otherwise noted, you can republish this article for free under a
*
You have to credit CTNewsJunkie and any co-reporting partners. In the byline, we prefer "Author Name, Publication(s)." At the top of the text of your story, include a line that reads: "This story was originally published by CTNewsJunkie." You must link the word "CTNewsJunkie" to the original URL of the story.
*
If you're republishing online, you must link to the URL of this story on CTNewsJunkie.com, include all of the links from our story, and use our tracking pixel script, which is located at the bottom of the text you are copying to your clipboard below.
*
If you use canonical metadata, please use the CTNewsJunkie URL. For more information about canonical metadata, click here.
*
You can't edit our material, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style. (For example, "yesterday" can be changed to "last week," and "Portland, Ore." to "Portland" or "here.")
*
You cannot republish our photographs or illustrations without specific permission. Please contact [email protected].
*
It's okay to put our stories on pages with ads, but not ads specifically sold against our stories. You can't state or imply that donations to your organization support CTNewsJunkie's work.
*
You have no rights to sell, license, syndicate, or otherwise represent yourself as the authorized owner of our material to any third parties. This means that you cannot actively publish or submit our work for syndication to third-party platforms or apps like
*
You can't republish our material wholesale, or automatically; you need to select stories to be republished individually. (To inquire about syndication or licensing opportunities, contact
*
You can't use our work to populate a website designed to improve rankings on search engines or solely to gain revenue from network-based advertisements.
*
We do not generally permit translation of our stories into another language.
*
Any website our stories appear on must include a prominent and effective way to contact you.
*
If you share republished stories on social media, we'd appreciate being tagged in your posts. We have official accounts for @CTNewsJunkie on Twitter and Facebook.
If you have any other questions, contact
State Officials, Industry Groups Call On Insurance Commissioner To Reject Rate Hike Request
by Jamil Ragland, CT News Junkie
State Officials, Industry Groups Call On Insurance Commissioner To Reject Rate Hike Request by Jamil Ragland, CT News Junkie
This is the list of rate hike requests for off-exchange health insurance plans from four insurers in the
Insurers submitted requests for rate increases across the range of insurance plans available in the state. While the average rate increase request is between 5%-14%, some rate increases may go as high as 18.8%.
"I've been coming to these meetings for the past 10 years and every single year it is a rate increase," said Sen.
He continued: "You know, the landscape might have changed and the cost factors might have changed, but one thing has remained constant. You continue to ask for rate increases and that is where the frustration and the venting you will hear from many of my colleagues and many of your rate payers that feel as though you are tone deaf. That you are not listening to them about outlandish executive compensation and all the largess of corporate benefits that are on the backs of rate payers in this state."
"Today, vital tools used by health plans at the request of insurance purchasers are under attack. Members of the
Rousseau singled out Senate Bill 6, which allows consumers to get only one prior authorization for prescription drugs, as an example of a state mandate which increases costs.
"This past legislative session, the actuarial firm
Attorney General
"It is hard to comprehend why managed care companies fail to bring premiums and their underlying cost drivers in line with other products and services that consumers purchase," Tong wrote. "Instead, we are informed each year of unit costs that far outstrip inflation as a forgone conclusion, without any explanation for why the costs cannot be curtailed through negotiation."
Tong said that the insurance companies are "perversely incentivized" to continue increasing rates.
"Historically, insurers have cost-shifted these increases to consumers through direct rate increases and by offering higher deductible plans, instead of challenging the runaway unit cost problem directly through hard negotiations with providers. Thus, the overall cost of care continues to skyrocket," he added.
The
"Addressing rising commercial healthcare costs will require action to eliminate national health insurance company administrative practices that raise costs and ensuring that the state Medicaid program pays rates that actually cover the cost of care.Connecticut hospitals provide high-quality care to anyone who walks through their doors, regardless of ability to pay," the statement said. "We must continue pursuing policies that will help improve affordability without jeopardizing the world-class healthcare delivery offered to every resident or reducing access to critical healthcare services, especially in underserved communities."
"As people in our state struggle to make ends meet, they cannot continue to absorb costs just so these corporations can spend billions on stock buybacks and tens of millions on their executives' compensation packages," said
According to data provided by CCAG, in 2023,
This article first appeared on CT News Junkie and is republished here under a
Copy to Clipboard
1
State Officials Break Ground on
Republish This Story
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a
Medicare Advantage plans got ‘alarming’ break from the U.S. government a decade ago: Here’s why
CCC Intelligent Solutions Inc. to Present at Upcoming Investor Conferences
Advisor News
Annuity News
Health/Employee Benefits News
Life Insurance News