Statistics lie. Largest insurer in the state...Highmark....pulled most of its plans. It issued a "new" set of plans at much higher rate....50% range depending on plan design....that is after 17% the previous year and 25%+ in the initial transition from medically underwritten. Capital BC which was not even in the game is now the cheapest in my area...and true to the statistics...their premiums only increased slightly from previous year....but no one wrote them because they priced themselves out of the market.
Interestingly, the old Highmark plans never figured into the official statistics because poooooof....they no longer existed.
From your article:
Highmark Inc., the state's largest insurer, had requested increases of 23 to 39 percent, saying the costs of treatment for new policyholders far exceeded what the company collected in premiums, a result of sicker-than-expected enrollees.
Highmark told them to pound sand and filed new plans at even higher rates under a "subsidiary"... They did not allow themselves to be used to make the administration look good. They initially decided to buy market share and rely upon the risk corridor payment...payments they later found would not even come close to reimbursing their 700+ million loss for 2015.
AI
