Connecticut’s insurance companies once again want to hike rates by double digits.
The state’s insurance regulators are considering the requests at a public hearing at the state Legislative Office Building in Hartford on Wednesday.
Anthem wants a nearly 13% rate increase for individual plans next year, and a 17% increase for group plans. ConnectiCare wants to hike individual plans by more than 22%, and UnitedHealthcare by nearly 19%.
“They are just passing along increases year after year. They have got to focus on the underlying cost of healthcare, prescription drugs, what they pay providers and hospitals. And they are not doing that,” State Attorney General William Tong said.
On Monday, Tong sent a letter to Josh Herman, the state insurance commissioner, asking that the rate hike requests be rejected because they exceed inflation and general economic growth measures.
“In the past we’ve been able to cut these proposed rate hikes dramatically. We are calling on the insurance department to work with us and to cut them again,” Tong said.
To be approved, the state insurance department must determine that the requests are neither excessive nor inadequate and are not unfairly discriminatory.
