Health carriers have released their proposed 2016 rates for review to the NY Department of Financial Services. The DFS is currently providing a public comment period and then will review and come out with an approved rate that might be more than, lower than or equal to the proposed rates.
While the carriers must provide a reasonable assumption as to why they need to request a rate increase, the DFS is under political pressure from elected officials and must do their best to keep any rate increase requests to a bare minimum. Politicians must show their constituents they are able to fight the insurance companies, the insurance companies must make sure they remain financially viable, and the DFS must balance these two forces and come up with a fair and equitable balance.
Below is a listing of PROPOSED Individual and Small Group rates for 2016. For comparison purposes, last year the DFS approved rate increases that averaged HALF of what the carriers had requested. Hopefully next year that will be the case again!
2016 New York Proposed Health Insurance Rate Increases
| Proposed Rate Increases | INDIVIDUAL | SMALL GROUP | ||||
| Aetna | N/A | 23.84% | ||||
| Emblem | N/A | 36.90% | ||||
| Empire BCBS | 10.12%-18.9% | 9.60% | ||||
| Health Republic | 13.08% | 16.72% | ||||
| North Shore LIJ Care Connect | .55%-7.56% | 2.50% | ||||
| Oscar | 3%-7% | N/A | ||||
| United Oxford | 5.3%- 22% | 10.6%-13.6% | ||||