Insurers offering products in New York’s individual, small group, and Medicare Advantage markets submit applications to the Department of Financial Services (DFS) each year which describes how premiums will change and why. DFS (and HCFANY!) encourage consumers to respond to these requests by share their experiences with DFS. How affordable do you think your current plan is? What would happen if your premiums went up as much as your insurer asks for? You can read HCFANY’s guidance for how to comment here, and submit your comments to DFS here.

Insurers have requested an average increase of 11.2% for 2022 on the individual market, which is very high given that consumers are still navigating the economic and health-related repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic; in addition, insurers will likely continue to benefit financially from depressed utilization and the increased use of telehealth as a result of the pandemic. In some cases insurers didn’t give enough information about why they think premiums should increase. This isn’t fair to the public.

In our comments, HCFANY discussed many reasons why DFS should consider reducing the rate requests, including both market-wide conditions and specific factors in each insurer’s application. Find your carrier in the list below to see what we had to say!

• CDPHP Health Plan
• Excellus
• Emblem (HIP)
• Fidelis
• Healthfirst
• Highmark Western and Northeastern New York (Formerly HealthNow)
• HealthPlus (previously Empire)
• Independent Health Benefits Corporation (IHBC)
• MetroPlus
• MVP Health Plan
• Oscar
• UnitedHealthcare