Anthem, ConnectiCare aim for premium increases for 2020 policies

Insurers that sell policies on Connecticut’s Affordable Care Act exchange, Access Heath CT, are seeking premium increases for their 2020 policies, basing their requests largely on a new federal tax that will be imposed next year.

Anthem Health Plans filed a rate request earlier this month for an average 15.2 percent increase for the health plans it sells to individuals both on and off the exchange. Those policies cover about 27,300 people, Anthem said.

“Anthem’s annual rate filing is a normal course of business,” the company said in a statement. “We look forward to working with the state and continuing the regulatory process.”

Many more Connecticut residents who seek insurance policies through Access Health CT are covered by the second insurer who sells policy on the exchange, ConnectiCare, which has filed a request to increase rates for individual health plans sold on that exchange by 4.9 percent. ConnectiCare said there are about 75,600 people covered under these policies.

The Anthem and ConnectiCare policies will be on the market as of Oct. 1, the start of the next ACA enrollment period, for coverage that begins Jan. 1, 2020.

The insurers cited several reasons for asking the Connecticut Insurance Department to approve rate increases, such as rising medical costs and an aging insured population.

The insurers also said the reintroduction of the Health Insurance Tax, or HIT, in 2020 prompted them to seek an increase in rates. The tax was implemented by the Affordable Care Act, was in place for 2018, suspended in 2019 and is due to take effect again next year.

“Suspending the Health Insurance Tax helped stabilize the individual market in 2019,” said America’s Health Insurance Plans, an industry trade group.

Connecticut Department of Insurance Commissioner Andrew N. Mais said Friday that “without the approximately 3 percentage point increase resulting from the recently reinstated federally mandated health insurer tax, the proposed increases are lower than last year’s.”

Ana Radelat is a reporter for The Connecticut Mirror (www. ctmirror.org). Copyright 2019 © The Connecticut Mirror. aradelat@ctmirror.org