NY blames prez for 24% O’Care-hike bid

New York state health insurers are requesting an average 24 percent hike to sell individual policies in 2019 under ObamaCare — and they’re blaming President Trump’s repeal of the mandate requiring everyone to have health-care coverage as contributing to the increase.

“The individual mandate, a key component of the Affordable Care Act, helped mitigate against dramatic price increases by ensuring healthier insurance pools. Insurers have attributed approximately half of their requested rate increases to the risks they see resulting from its repeal,” said state Financial Services Superintendent Maria Vullo.

“Without the federal action, the average requested rate increase would be 12.1 percent.”

Among the insurers seeking the biggest increases is Fidelis, which wants a 38.6 percent hike.

Fidelis insures about 4 in 10 New Yorkers in the individual market.

Fidelis attributes two-thirds of the proposed increase — 25.9 per- cent — to the repeal of the individual mandate.

Other firms seeking big boosts are Emblem (31.5 percent), Oscar (25.2 percent), Empire Health Choice Assurance (24 percent) and UnitedHealthcare (23.6 percent).

But one firm, Healthnow New York, is actually requesting a rate reduction of 3.2 percent.

Metro Plus, the insurer affiliated with New York City’s Health + Hospitals’ system, is seeking a 13.5 percent increase.

Vullo, the state’s chief insurance regulator, insisted New York’s medical coverage market “remains robust despite federal actions, with consumers having choices in every county of the state.”

As in the past, the state will likely trim the requested increases following a review later in the summer.

Last year, DFS approved a 13.9 percent average increase for individual policies and 9.3 percent for small groups.