In my post about the U.S. Senate vote to end the federal government shutdown last week, I concluded that:
I'll have a lot more to say about this "HSAs for All" silliness which Trump & Sen. Cassidy are suddenly pitching, but in the meantime, whether you think 8 of them voting for the CR Sunday night was the right thing to do or not, once they did so, shifting the national dialogue back to healthcare policy (where Dems are strongest and Republicans are weakest) and the Epstein Files is probably the best outcome Democrats could've realistically hoped for from that point forward.
Almost every day since the, various Republican House & Senate members have underscored my point:
Scope, Range, and Best Estimate of the Rate Increase
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma (BCBSOK) is filing new rates to be effective January 1, 2026, for its Individual ACA metallic coverage. As measured in the Unified Rate Review Template (URRT), the range of rate increases for these plans is 12.3% to 51.5%.
...Changes in allowable rating factors, such as age, geographical area, or tobacco use, may also impact the premium amount for the coverage.
There are currently 128,181 members on Individual Affordable Care Act (ACA) plans that may be affected by these proposed rates.
Oklahoma has around ~293,000 residents enrolled in ACA exchange plans, 93% of whom are currently subsidized. I estimate they also have another ~7,000 unsubsidized off-exchange enrollees.
With the pending dire threat to several of these programs (primarily Medicaid & the ACA) from the House Republican Budget Proposal which recently passed, I'm going a step further and am generating pie charts which visualize just how much of every Congressional District's total population is at risk of losing healthcare coverage.
USE THE DROP-DOWN MENU ABOVE TO FIND YOUR STATE & DISTRICT.
Oklahoma is another state where I have no access to the actual enrollment data--all I have to go by are the average requested rate changes for each carrier on the individual and small group markets. As a result, the averages for each market are unweighted.
For individual market plans, that unweighted average is a slight decrease of 0.7%, though the carriers range from as low as a 12% drop to as high as a 10% increase.
It's worth noting that BlueLincs HMO, which was only added to the OK individual market last year, is already being removed from it. In fact, as shown below, it looks like BlueLincs was a special line of policies offered at the point of a regulatory gun; apparently Blue Cross was required to create it as an option for group coverage members who move off of employer coverage. However, that regulation was apparently changed shortly thereafter, and no one ever actually enrolled in a BlueLinc plan anyway, so that's that.
For the small group market, average requested rate hikes range from as little as 4.0% to as much as a 15.2. The unweighted average is 8.3%
Oklahoma is another state where I have no access to the actual enrollment data--all I have to go by are the average requested rate changes for each carrier on the individual and small group markets. As a result, the averages for each market are unweighted.
For individual market plans, that unweighted average is just 2.2%, though the carriers range from as low as a 3.5% drop to as high as a 6.1% increase. It's also worth noting that Friday Health Plans are kaput.
Similarly, for the small group market, average requested rate hikes range from as little as 0.8% for CommunityCare to as much as a 9.3% for Aetna. The unweighted average is 4.9%.
A few weeks ago, I reported that both Nevada and Oklahoma had placed insolvent insurance carrier Friday Health Plans under receivership, leaving just two states left to do so (North Carolina and Colorado, which happens to also be the home to Friday's corporate headquarters).
It turned out that I was correct about Oklahoma, but had jumped the gun slightly re. Nevada; the insurance commissioner had petitioned the court to put Friday into receivership, but hadn't actually done so yet.
Friday Health Plans, Inc., the parent company of Friday Health Plan of Colorado, ,Inc. (HMO), has announced that it will begin to wind down its business activities throughout the country, working in close conjunction with state regulators, including the Colorado Division of Insurance.
In recent months, it became apparent that the parent company would need to raise substantial capital to continue. Friday was ultimately unable to raise that capital and on June 1, Friday Health Plans, Inc. (Parent) stated publicly that they would begin to wind down.
...Well, just one day after the Bright Healthcare bombshell news broke, Texas-based health insurance broker Jenny Chumbley Hogue sounded the alarm on another large carrier bailing on Texas next year:
And its confirmed. Email received from Friday. Buckle up folks! Individual OEP in Texas is going to be a bumpy ride! https://t.co/AMNJ4rPyr3
...Well, just one day after the Bright Healthcare bombshell news broke, Texas-based health insurance broker Jenny Chumbley Hogue sounded the alarm on another large carrier bailing on Texas next year:
