State approves health insurance rate hikes
S health care cost control proposals continue to languish at in legislative committees, insurance costs are continuing to rise.Patrick administration regulators announced today that they have approved an average 4.8 percent increase in base premiums for individuals and small businesses proposed by Massachusetts insurers. The increased rates will take effect Jan. 1, 2012.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts was granted the highest rate of increase at 5.9 percent, while Connecticare and Health New England reported slight decreases in premium rates.
Other carriers that reported increases, approved by the state Division of Insurance, include Blue Cross HMO Blue (5.9 percent), Harvard Pilgrim HMO (5.2 percent), Neighborhood Health Plan (4.3 percent), Tufts Health Plan (4 percent), Harvard Pilgrim Health Care (3 percent), Tufts HMO (2.6 percent), CeltiCare (2.2 percent), Fallon HMO (1.5 percent) and Fallon Community Health Plan (1.2 percent).
United Health care of New England was the only plan without rates put on file with the division. Officials said the agency had requested more information from the carrier.
Base rates filed by insurers may be adjusted upward based on population, geographic availability of health care providers and patients’ average age.
In a phone interview, the state’s top consumer affairs official noted that a year earlier, some plans had proposed increases on small businesses as high as 34 percent.
“We’ve made tremendous progress in terms of slowing down the rate of increase,” said Barbara Anthony, undersecretary of consumer affairs and business regulation. “Things have been going in the right direction since the Patrick administration really said, basically, ‘Enough is enough. We’ve got to turn this trend around.’ The industry heard us. The carriers heard us and the providers heard us. They’re doing what we urged them to do over the past couple of years.
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