Public Hearing on Insurance Rate Increases Set

As you may have heard, insurance companies have proposed increasing rates in Connecticut in 2023 for individual and small group markets by an average of more than 20%. The increases could impact 200,000 people statewide. Some of these increases are due to government mandates placed on these insurers through legislation passed by the Democrat majority, which continue to make it harder and more expensive to do business in Connecticut.

I don’t want to see such high increases, especially given the already high costs of groceries and gasoline caused by inflation. But in the past two legislative sessions, when Democrats pushed for more insurance regulations, they admitted during debate on the House floor that more mandates would lead to increases in insurance rates. Now, those rates are going up, and Democrats are complaining? What did they expect would happen? The contradictions are maddening.

And when the costs go up for the insurers due to the implementation of bad policies, those increases are passed on to all of us, making the cost of healthcare double or triple what it would be in another state.

We want to make sure that companies stay in our state, but instead, they are heading for the exits due to government-imposed regulations. Harvard Pilgrim Health Care has even decided to leave the Connecticut market and will only renew existing plans through the end of their appropriate plan years.

But you have your chance to have your voice heard on these increases and issues.

The Connecticut Insurance Department has scheduled a hybrid public meeting for Monday, August 15 at 9 a.m. Members of the public can attend the hearing either in person at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford, or via Zoom, and will have the opportunity to ask questions and be heard about these proposed rate hikes.

The meeting can also be viewed on CT-N.

Anyone wanting to speak at the meeting via Zoom can sign up by sending an email to cid.RateFIlings@ct.gov with your name and contact information. Written comments can also be emailed to that same email address no later than Friday, August 22, 2022. Anyone who wants to speak in person can sign up on the morning of August 15 at the Legislative Office Building beginning at 8:30 a.m.

Comments at the hearing will be limited to 3 minutes per person. Rate proposals have been filed by Aetna, Anthem Health Plans, and United Healthcare/Oxford for the 2023 plan year. The health insurance rate requests are available for viewing and open to public comment online here, and on the Department’s website.

To learn more about these rate increases and offer your comments about them, you can click on the chart below.