Insurers file double-digit rate increases with Iowa Insurance Division

Rising medical costs and the end of a federal program designed to stabilize premiums in the individual insurance plan market have pushed companies selling plans on the Iowa exchange to ask the Iowa Insurance Division for double-digit increases for the upcoming 2017 enrollment season.

Aetna Health of Iowa, formerly Coventry Health, asked for an average increase of 22.6 percent to 37.4 percent. The company said in its filing with the Insurance Division that it anticipates medical costs to go up 7.5 percent and pharmacy costs to increase nearly 11 percent.

The company, which has about 37,080 enrollees in Iowa, has sold plans for several years in the state and was given an average rate increase of 19.8 percent for its Affordable Care Act-compliant health insurance plans in 2016.

Minnesota-based Medica, which expanded to the Iowa market during the previous open enrollment season, said the average rate change is to be 19 percent. The company has about 1,240 Iowa enrollees.

Earlier in May, Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield said it would seek an average base rate increase of 38 percent to 43 percent for the nearly 30,000 individuals with its ACA-compliant plans. The Des Moines-based insurer said costs of specialty drugs have increased by 100 percent since the previous year and that 300 members drove 25 percent of the costs, totaling $47 million.

The Insurance Division approved a rate increase of 24.5 percent last year.

The 2017 enrollment period will be Nov. 1, 2016, to Jan. 31, 2017.

Public hearings with state officials will be held on July 23 in Des Moines.