2017 Rate Request Early Look: Maryland

Last year, Maryland's individual market saw rate hike requests average roughly 20% overall. For 2017, it doesn't look quite as bad on a percentage basis (although obviously the actual dollar increase is still on top of last year's):

Health insurers seek rate increases in Maryland as United Healthcare quits market

...United Healthcare, the nation's largest insurer but a bit player in Maryland, was not included on a list released Friday by state regulators of companies seeking rate increases for 2017.

Insurance Commissioner Al Redmer confirmed that the company was leaving the exchange created under the Affordable Care Act, as it has in most states across the country. It will continue to offer plans in the small-business market.

...For next year, CareFirst has asked the Maryland Insurance Commission for a 12.4 percent increase on its HMO plan and a 16 percent increase for two other plans it offers. The insurer said it had no comment on its requests for increases.

The insurance commission also will consider rate increases that other insurers requested for individual plans. Cigna Health and Life Insurance Co. requested a 29.8 percent increase, Evergreen Health Cooperative an 8.1 percent increase and Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Mid-Atlantic States a 25 percent increase.

...The insurers also requested rate increases for plans in the small-business market that ranged from 0.1 percent to 7.4 percent.

OK, so it's anywhere from 8.1% to 29.8% increases on the individual market, and up to 7.4% on the small group market. However, when I checked out the actual rate filings on the Maryland DOI website, here's what it looks like:

Note that the Kaiser filing didn't include the actual number of enrollees impacted, so I just used the most recent data I had on hand from the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange fro Kaiser's exchange-based enrollees (there's an unknown number of off-exchange enrollees as well, but those are likely cancelled out by net attrition since February 1st).

Obviously UnitedHealthcare's enrollees can't be counted here since United is pulling out of the state completely; those 18,000 or so enrollees will have to shop around for another carrier. As for the rest, it looks like the weighted average rate hike request for the state's individual market is around 15% even this year.