Proposed 2018 Rate Increases in WA

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​Here's a glimpse of the proposed 2018 health plan rates as submitted to the Washington OIC.

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The deadline for submitting proposed plans/rates to the Office of the Insurance Commissioner (OIC) has passed and we can now get a glimpse into 2018 rates – or at least what the insurance carriers are requesting. 

Individual Market
It is pretty remarkable that we only saw two carriers jump ship in the individual market.  Kaiser Options (their PPO plans) and Community Health Plan have pulled out for 2018.  Of the 11 carriers who have filed, their total loss in the individual market in 2016 exceeded $141 million.  Now you know why I am shocked other carriers came to the individual coverage table.  All but two of them had losses; with the largest being Premera (-$75 M), Kaiser (-$28 M), and Lifewise (-$18 M).  Ouch!  These 11 still have time to pull their filings, since they will be working with the OIC into the late summer to hammer out any plan/rate issues. 
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Initially two counties were “bare” for 2018, meaning no individual carriers were willing to write coverage for their residents:  Grays Harbor and Klickitat.  As of June 26th, the OIC announced that through negotiations, Premera will provide options in Grays Harbor, and both Bridgespan and Molina will offer coverage in Klickitat.  It remains to be seen how affordable coverage will be in ALL of the counties throughout Washington – rate increase being requested range from 12.9% to 38.5%.

​Small Group Market
Overall losses in the small group market were close to $5 million, but that seems like just a drop in the bucket compared to the individual market’s losses.  Of the 12 carriers who have filed group plans/rates, at least 5 of them logged some level of profit in 2016, including Regence (+$5 M) and United (+$3 M).  But the biggest losers?  Kaiser, Healthnet and Aetna all had losses exceeding $4 M.

Want to delve into the data?
For more information about each carrier, including the counties they’ll serve, their gains/losses, and their projected rate increases, subscribe to our Benefits Bites newsletter and we'll send them to you.