Premiums for Affordable Care Act insurance plans in Delaware will rise 3 percent next year.
Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Delaware proposed a rate hike of 5.7 percent last month, before reducing it by percentage points because it’s the only insurer in the marketplace. Negotiations with the Delaware Department of Insurance settled on an even 3 percent.
Insurance Commissioner Trinidad Navarro said the increases are loaded onto the silver plans, which usually results in greater federal subsidies.
“Three percent is an average," he said. "Some will see a decrease, some will see an increase, but it’s based off of a number of variables and choices that people can make.”
Highmark will also be rebating about $5 million in fees to its small group market consumers.
In a statement, Highmark said those rebates are due to lower than expected health care costs. It said it’ll notify insurance brokers in early September and the companies involved by the middle of the month. The insurer said the rebates will go out by the end of September.
Last year, Highmark ACA premiums rose 25 percent.
