Individual, small company health insurance plans will cost hundreds more a year

By: Lynne Terry – September 6, 2024 || OREGON CAPITAL CHRONICLE

The price of individual and small business health insurance plans will jump again next year – and two by double digits that could leave people paying nearly $700 more a year for their monthly premiums.

After seeking public comment, officials with the state Division of Financial Regulation said Thursday they approved an average 8% rate hike for individual plans sold on the federal marketplace – just 1% lower than what the companies requested earlier this year. The division also approved an average 12% rise for small company plans, which basically was what the companies had requested, according to figures published Thursday.

PacificSource Health Plans will have the biggest increase on the individual market at just over 11%, while regulators approved more than a 16% rate hike for small business plans sold by Providence Health Plan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Andrew Stolfi, Oregon’s insurance commissioner, indicated that state officials are pleased with how the rate process worked out.

“The health insurance market is competitive with five carriers offering plans in every Oregon county (in) 2025, which gives Oregonians more options to shop for plans to fit their budget,” Stolfi said in a statement.

The latest quarterly data shows that nearly 170,000 people in Oregon have purchased their own health insurance, mostly on the federal marketplace. The online portal allows individuals to obtain subsidies to pay for premiums and other costs, usually in the form of a tax credit. About 150,000 people are covered by group plans.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Division analysts spent months reviewing the rate requests and lowered the few that did not fit allowed parameters. After that, the division also sought public comment on the rates. Oregonians may be resigned to continual rate hikes. Only one person commented, posting the same statement five times: “These rate increases are terrible,” the anonymous commenter said. “I already have many people who bail on the marketplace because it is still too expensive for their income level. There will be more and more people who will go uninsured because of this.”

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It’s unclear how many people booted from Medicaid have obtained insurance through an employer or how many have signed up on the federal marketplace. The federal government has not shared those figures. But the latest quarterly individual enrollment figures indicate that thousands in Oregon who lost Medicaid may no longer have health insurance.

People can enroll in health insurance at any time during a “qualifying life event,” such as a marriage, having a baby or losing health coverage. For others, open enrollment runs from Nov. 1 to Jan. 15 this year.

Lynne Terry, who has more than 30 years of journalism experience, is Oregon Capital Chronicle’s editor-in-chief. She previously was editor of The Lund Report, a highly regarded health news site; reported on health in her 18 years at The Oregonian, was a senior producer at Oregon Public Broadcasting and Paris correspondent for National Public Radio.

Oregon Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.