Covered California would raise insurance rates by 4 percent in 2016
The cost of health insurance in California is going up by 4 percent for plans offered in 2016 on the Health Insurance Marketplace, a rate hike announced as "modest" by Covered California on Monday.
The rise in the state's price is lower than last year's 4.2 percent increase, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.
State and federal officials credit the single digit rate increases to a policy of forcing insurers to compete in controlling costs; an enrollment mix that includes many young and healthy enrollees; and premium stabilization programs created by the ACA.
"Today's announcement demonstrates that the Affordable Care Act is working as intended to spur competition and transparency in the Marketplaces, keeping premium increases low and leading to affordable new choices for consumers," Health Insurance Marketplaces CEO Kevin Counihan said on Monday.
Unlike most states, California negotiates price with insurers.
An Affordable Care Act rate review program keeps premiums affordable by requiring insurance companies to document and submit for review increases of 10 percent or more, as well as publicly justifying unreasonable rate increases, according to CMS.
Consumers get greater price transparency and input into the review process, CMS said.
Some insurers nationwide requested rate increases above 10 percent, saying new enrollees tended to need a greater amount of healthcare services.
California's 2016 rate increase appears to fall in line with the average 4.4 percent individual market rate increase of other states, according to published information from the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Final rates for all states will be published by Nov. 1, CMS said.
