TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Premiums for individual major medical plans in Florida that are compliant with the federal Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act (PPACA) regulatory requirements will go up an average of 13.2% in 2015, according to data provided to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (Office) by insurance providers. The Office has no rate approval authority over these filings. The average monthly premium for a Silver plan ranges between $938 and $1,452 for a family of four earning $51,000. Even with a federal subsidy, that could mean an out-of-pocket cost of $500 or more per month to have coverage that still requires Florida families to pay about 30% of expenses out-of-pocket for deductibles, copayments, and coinsurance.
The rising premiums come on the heels of a 37% average increase in the combined individual and small group plan rates in 2014, per a study released in April by Morgan Stanley. That confirms predictions the Office made last year of premium increases of 30-40% for the individual market plans and 5-20% for the small group market plans for plan year 2014.
Fourteen companies filed PPACA-compliant Federally-Facilitated Exchange (Exchange) plans for the 2015 individual market, including three new companies that did not participate on the Exchange last year. Of the 11 returning plans, eight filed average rate increases ranging from 11% to 23%, and three filed rate decreases ranging from…
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