For Immediate Release For more information, contact:

June 4, 2024 Craig Ey, 410-468-2488

443-604-9599 (cell)

[email protected]ov

BALTIMORE – The Maryland Insurance Administration has received the 2025 proposed premium rates

for Affordable Care Act products offered by health and dental carriers in the individual, non-Medigap

and small group markets, which impact approximately 496,000 Marylanders. This includes rate

submissions from Wellpoint Maryland Inc., an HMO that will begin offering Affordable Care Act products

in Maryland for the first time.

In the individual, non-Medigap market, carriers are requesting an overall average rate change of 6.7%,

with the average request by carrier ranging from 4.7% to 14.2%. In the small group market, carriers

have requested an overall average rate increase of 6.1%, with the averages by carrier ranging from 4.9%

to 23%. In the individual, non-Medigap, stand-alone dental market, carriers have requested an overall

ACA proposed rates in July and expects to issue decisions in September 2024.

In both the individual and small group markets, the overall average increase requested for 2025 is

consistent with the overall average claims trend. The rates submitted by the carriers for the Individual

market include the estimated impacts from the state’s innovative, state-based reinsurance program,

which was originally approved for 2019-2023 and has been extended through the end of 2028. The

State Reinsurance Program resulted in a 32% reduction in individual market rates in the first three years

and has been instrumental in keeping rate increases at or below trend. Even if this year’s requested

increases were approved as proposed, the individual, non-Medigap rates would be 16% below the rates

being charged in 2018 prior to the start of the State Reinsurance Program.

carriers before the state reinsurance program was implemented,” noted Insurance Commissioner

Kathleen A. Birrane. “The addition of three new carriers demonstrates the continuing success of the

program, will provide consumers with an expanded number of choices, and will provide additional

competitive pressure to keep rate increases low. Maryland has some of the lowest unsubsidized rates

for comprehensive medical coverage in the nation and we want to keep it that way.”

The Insurance Administration will hold a quasi-legislative virtual public hearing on this matter on July 9,

2024 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. (See public hearing details below.)

“Feedback from all stakeholders is very important and we urge everyone to participate in the public

hearing,” Commissioner Birrane said. “Health insurance costs impact everyone, and we want to give all

Marylanders the opportunity to be heard as we consider the proposed rates.”

Additional details regarding proposed rate changes in the individual market are provided in Exhibit 1.

Additional premium comparisons for bronze and gold and for an illustrative Family of four are found in

Exhibit 2.

Note that all illustrative premiums are the full unsubsidized premiums prior to the application of any

Advance Premium Tax Credits (APTCs) from the federal government or the state young adult subsidy

pilot. Almost 80% of applicants who purchase a plan on www.marylandhealthconnection.gov receive

For the small group (50 or less full-time equivalent employees) market, the overall filed average annual

rate change is an increase of 6.1%. In the small group market, a health carrier can request rate changes

on a quarterly basis. The proposed average rate changes by carrier for all four quarters of 2025 and the

number of impacted members based on enrollment as of March 31, 2024 is:

To provide context, and for comparison purposes, the chart below shows the filed monthly individual

premium for a 40-year-old subscriber for the first quarter of 2025 in the metropolitan Baltimore service

area who buys the lowest-cost non-subsidized silver plan. These monthly premium amounts may be

shared between the individual and the employer, as employers often contribute to the cost of employee

insurance.

2025

Monthly

$466

$453

$477

$494

Additional details regarding these proposed rate changes are provided in Exhibit 3. Additional premium

comparisons for bronze and gold and for an illustrative Family of four are found in Exhibit 4.

For the stand-alone dental market, four carriers submitted premiums. The average filed rate by carrier

Additional details regarding these proposed rate changes are provided in Exhibit 5. Illustrative

premiums for both Self-Only and Family coverage can be found in Exhibit 6.

Rates being reviewed by the MIA do not affect health insurance plans offered by large employers or by

employers who self-insure, “grandfathered” plans purchased before March 2010, or federal plans such

as Medicare (including Medicare Advantage or Medicare Supplement), Tricare and federal employee

plans.

The six exhibits listed below provide more detail.

EXHIBIT 1: 2023 ACA, Individual Non-Medigap Market – Rate Filing Summary