Via Modern Healthcare:
Health insurers are seeking lofty rate hikes for 2019 individual coverage as they grapple with new obstacles in the Affordable Care Act marketplace, including the zeroed-out mandate penalty and the potential influx of skimpy insurance policies. Maryland and Virginia are the first states to announce the rates filed by insurance companies for 2019 plans. The requests, though not final, offer an early look at what other insurers may be planning across the country. In Maryland, the two insurers selling individual insurance plans on the ACA marketplace are asking for an average rate increase of about 30% for 2019 coverage. That would amount to an average monthly premium of about $592 per member, compared with $449 per month in 2018. CareFirst Blue Cross and Blue Shield requested an average rate increase of 18.5% for its HMO plan and 91.4% for its PPO plan. The bulk (90%) of CareFirst’s 138,000 Maryland individual plan members are enrolled in HMO coverage. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, which covers 73,700 individual members in the state, asked Maryland regulators for a rate increase of 35%.
Source/more: Modern Healthcare