(WJAR) \u2014 Rhode Islanders who buy their own health insurance could be facing another year of significant premium increases.<\/p>\n
The Office of Health Insurance Commissioner announced Monday that health insurers have submitted their requested rates for 2027 coverage, and some plans are seeking double-digit increases.<\/p>\n
For people who purchase insurance on their own rather than through an employer, the requested hikes range from nearly 10% to almost 25%.<\/p>\n
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island is asking for an average increase of 9.8%, while Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island is seeking an average increase of 24.9%.<\/p>\n
Insurers argue they need higher premiums to keep up with rising health care costs and other expenses.<\/p>\n
State Health Insurance Commissioner Cory King said his office will now review the requests to determine whether those increases are justified.<\/p>\n
Small businesses could also see premiums rise next year.<\/p>\n
Insurers that provide coverage to small employers are requesting increases ranging from 7.7% to 19%, with an average proposed increase of 8.7%.<\/p>\n
For larger employers, requested increases range from 12.2% to nearly 35%.<\/p>\n
The Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner can approve the rates as submitted, lower them, or reject them altogether.<\/p>\n
The proposed increases do not affect most Rhode Islanders who get health insurance through self-funded employer plans, which cover roughly 65% of people with employer-sponsored insurance.<\/p>\n
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The review process will continue through the summer, and the OHIC will make a final decision on rates in mid-September.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(WJAR) \u2014 Rhode Islanders who buy their own health insurance could be facing another year of significant premium…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":495212,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[163,521,85,46],"class_list":["post-495211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=495211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=495211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}