Carriers in Maryland’s individual health market have requested average rate decreases for the second straight year, signaling that after several years of steep rate increases a reinsurance program has stabilized the market. Last year, carriers initially requested large increases. However, ...

Tagged with: health insurance rates individual market maryland insurance administration

A health insurance mandate aimed at drawing more people into Maryland’s insurance market could help reduce premiums and make insurance more affordable, supporters said Thursday. Legislation to create a penalty for people who do not have health insurance was heard ...

Tagged with: individual mandate individual market maryland health exchange

­­­­­ ANNAPOLIS — Maryland lawmakers want to extend a fee used last year to fund the reinsurance program that led to decreased rates on the individual health insurance market last year. “Premiums are going to go back up through the ...

Tagged with: individual market reinsurance

More than 1,600 CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield members on the individual market heeded the insurer’s call to switch plans for 2019, potentially tapping into hundreds of dollars a month in savings. While preparing its rates for 2019, CareFirst realized that thousands ...

Tagged with: CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield individual market Kaiser Permanente

A busy week is in store for health policy in Maryland as regulators, advocates, consumers and insurers consider the present and future of the state’s individual market. Monday, the Maryland Insurance Administration will hear from insurers and the public as ...

Tagged with: beth sammis CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield individual mandate individual market Kaiser Permanente maryland insurance administration Vincent DeMarco

Maryland wants a reinsurance program to stabilize the individual market and lower premiums, but one of the exchange’s two remaining insurers fears the state’s application could further destabilize the market, forcing it to raise rates next year and to reconsider ...

Tagged with: CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield individual market Kaiser Permanente reinsurance risk adjustment

Despite the expectation of a reinsurance program for 2019, Maryland’s individual market health insurers will likely file for significant premium increases when their annual rate requests are released next week. The insurers will not consider the state’s pending reinsurance waiver ...

Tagged with: health insurance individual market peter beilenson reinsurance

Gov. Larry Hogan approved one reinsurance bill adopted by the legislature and a second reinsurance bill gained final passage Thursday, but these measures likely remain short-term solutions to the state’s individual health insurance market woes. A reinsurance program will likely ...

Tagged with: Al Redmer CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield chet burrell individual market maryland health exchange reinsurance

State legislators will seek a deeper understanding of what goes into the insurance rate-setting process as the legislature this year tackles high health insurance premiums on the individual market. Bills heard in the House Health and Government Operations Committee and ...

Tagged with: carefirst individual market maryland insurance administration