Individuals in Colorado may need to find new health insurance plans or face double-digit premium increases in 2017 based on insurers' preliminary requests submitted to the Colorado Division of Insurance.
Here are 10 key findings about insurers' proposed rate increases:
1. Approximately 20 percent of the 450,000 people — or 92,000 Coloradoans — who purchase individual plans on the ACA exchange would be affected, which is about 7.7 percent of all Coloradans.
2. Two insurance companies — UnitedHealthcare and Humana — would cease offering individual plans if the proposal goes through, affecting 20,000 consumers.
3. Rocky Mountain Health Plans would only offer individual plans in Mesa County via affiliate Monument Health. Come 2017, some 10,000 members would need to find new plans.
4. Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield would cease offering individual PPO plans, impacting 62,310 people. However, the insurer would continue offering its HMO option statewide.
5. RMHP's depature would leave many areas with only the Anthem BCBS HMO option for individual plans.
6. Golden Rule requested the highest premium increase for individual plans at 40.6 percent. Colorado Choice followed with a proposed 36.3 percent hike and Rocky Mountain HMO with a proposed 34.6 percent increase. Anthem requested a 26.8 percent increase, whereas Denver Health requested the lowest increase at 0.08 percent.
7. UnitedHealthcare, Humana, RMPP and Anthem BCBS will continue offering small and large employer group plans.
8. Most insurers requested small group rate increases in the single digits, save for Rocky Mountain Healthcare Options, which requested an 11.2 percent increase.
9. A new insurer, Bright Health Plans, would offer individual plans on and off the ACA exchange.
10. The request will be reviewed by the Colorado DOI for compliance with ACA and state laws, and would not be approved until late September or early October.