2026 Proposed Rates – Small Group & Individual Plans

We're getting our first look at carriers' proposed 2026 rates. 

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The insurance carriers’ 2026 proposed small group and individual plan premiums have been submitted to Washington’s Office of the Insurance Commissioner (OIC). While it will take at least a few months for the back-and-forth between the carriers and the Commissioner to shake out, the proposed rates give us a starting point for renewal planning.  Individual increases requested range from 9.6% to 37.4%, while small group increases range from 1.9% to 15.8%. We are seeing one new carrier requesting to begin offering individual plans, Wellpoint, while under the small group market United Healthcare of Washington did not submit a filing (although their United Healthcare Insurance Company segment filed).
 
Small Group Plans
We’ll begin with the easier of the two program reviews, small group plans. These plans are for employers who had 50 or fewer employees on average during the calendar year prior to the effective (or renewal) date of the plan. Nine of the 10 insurance carriers have requested to continue offering plans in Washington State. Here’s a quick rundown: 

• United Healthcare of Washington did not file plans for the new calendar year; however, United Healthcare Insurance Company did. With this change, United Healthcare would no longer be offering their plans in Adams, Asotin, Columbia, Douglas, Ferry, Garfield, Kittitas, Lincoln, and Pend Orielle counties.
• None of the other carriers are proposing to pull out of counties where they are currently offering their plans.
• Three carriers propose double digit increases (Kaiser Options at 13.6%, Premera at 14.2%, and United Healthcare at 15.8%).

The carriers’ 2026 requested rates are based on each carrier’s gain or loss at the end of 2024, among other factors. There were 6 of the 9 carriers that were in a loss position for the 2024 calendar year, with the largest being Regence BlueShield (nearly $16M million loss).
 
Individual Plans
Most of the individual carriers are requesting double-digit increases. Regence BlueShield’s increase of 9.6% is the lowest requested; however, interestingly enough, they are the carrier with the highest loss in 2024 (over $14 million). 
 
In 2025, the industry saw subsidy levels reduced due to lower-cost Silver plans new to the marketplace. Most of these are through Ambetter, with just five counties’ benchmark plans being offered through Community Health Plan (Ferry, Kitsap, Kittitas, Lincoln, and Yakima). Both Ambetter and Communnity Health Plan are requesting over 20% increases, 22% and 27.6% respectively.
 
Below is a summary of proposed carrier changes with regard to the counties in which they would offer plans. These changes are not final, as we tend to see at least a few carriers' finalized county lists end up different from what they originally proposed.

• Lifewise wants to remove Lincoln and San Juan counties, but newly offer coverage in Yakima county.
• Premera is proposing to offer coverage in Lincoln county.
• Regence BlueShield would like to no longer offer coverage in Island, San Juan, and Whatcom counties.
• United Healthcare of Oregon wants to expand its reach into Grays Harbor, Spokane and Thurston counties.
• Wellpoint is a new carrier entering the scene, with plans to offer coverage in Grays Harbor, King, and Spokane counties.

 
We began tracking “affected members” for each individual carrier’s program last year. This in effect provides the number of enrolled members under each carrier. Ambetter (Coordinated Care) continues to have the largest number of insureds, at 107,649. Rounding out the top three are Molina (43,346) and Kaiser WA (40,266).

Bottom Line
While these are preliminary renewal numbers for 2026, they provide estimates to begin renewal planning. We expect that final rates will be approved by the Office of the Insurance Commission in October.