State OKs 2018 health insurance rate hikes

Aug. 17--New York insurance regulators on Monday approved average 2018 health insurance rate increases of 13.9 percent for individuals and 9.3 percent for small groups through the state insurance market.

Approximately 350,000 New Yorkers are enrolled in an individual plan. Insurers had requested increases averaging 17.7 percent for the individual market.

More than 1 million New Yorkers are enrolled in small group plans. Insurers had asked for an average rate increase of 11.7 percent in the small group market. But DFS cut the increase to 9.3 percent.

DFS officials stressed that tax credits could significantly lower insurance premiums. After tax credits, those who buy the Silver Health Plan, the most popular coverage on New York's insurance exchange, could see decreases of up to 5 percent in their 2018 rates, state officials said.

Households that earn between 200 percent and 400 percent of the federal poverty level ($48,240 for individuals and $98,400 for a family of four) are eligible for federal tax credits, and 60 percent of New Yorkers qualify.

State officials said the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, has stabilized New York's individual market, which was exorbitantly expensive and commonly used only for calamity coverage. But that could change.

Because Republicans recently failed to repeal and replace Obamacare, President Donald Trump has threatened to end key federal subsidies that reimburse insurers for reducing deductibles, co-payments and other out-of-pocket costs that make health coverage affordable.

Experts have said that move, and other measures threatened by the Trump administration, could destabilize the health insurance market. Trump has countered that the insurance market should be allowed to melt down so Democrats are forced to negotiate a bill to replace Obamacare. As the president has put it, "Let Obamacare implode, then deal."

In a statement, New York Financial Services Department Superintendent Maria Vullo called on the federal government to protect the insurance market "by fully paying the cost-sharing subsidies to insurers, enforcing the individual mandate, and addressing the cost drivers of health care including ever-increasing pharmaceutical costs."

Steve Zeng, executive director for Crystal Run Health Plans, said in a statement that the local insurer tries to offer the lowest possible rates, but "health insurance premium increases are the direct result of increasing hospital and pharmaceutical costs."

"While we don't offer plans impacted by the reduction of Cost Sharing Reduction subsidies, discontinuing the CSR subsidies will destabilize the marketplace and could jeopardize our ability to provide affordable insurance to our communities," Zeng added.

daxelrod@th-record.com

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