Individual Health Plan Purchasers Expect 10% Increase in Premiums
Individual health plan policyholders can expect about a 10% increase in their health plan premiums next year, the Sacramento Bee reports.
The 2.5 million individual policyholders statewide have benefited from slower premium increases from recent trends that have restricted medical costs, but "I don't see it extending very far into the future," Michael Kraten -- president of Enterprise Management, an industry consulting firm -- said.
Last week, CalPERS announced that its basic Kaiser Permanente premiums will increase about 8% next year.
Insurers are more likely raise individual plan premiums because those plans are more costly to administer and insurers do not make as much money on them, Kraten said.
He added, "Those 2% to 3% higher rates for individual coverage (compared with CalPERS) aren't surprising. But I'd be shocked if they held true four or five years from now" (Ortiz, Sacramento Bee, 6/24).