Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Highmark raises ACA marketplace premiums for 2022

Department of Health and Human Services

Affordable Care Act marketplace premiums will go up in the First State next year.

Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield of Delaware—which provides the First State’s Affordable Care Act plans—is raising base rates an average of 3% for 2022.

Delaware’s Department of Insurance announced the change this week, saying it negotiated the hike down from Highmark’s proposed 4%. 

State Insurance Commissioner Trinidad Navarro says rates are still significantly cheaper than they were a few years ago. 

“Unfortunately a lot of folks think, from years ago, that it’s unaffordable, and we’re just asking people to take another look,” Navarro said. 

“And because the American Rescue Plan, ... the premium assistance subsidies, are in place now for 2022, many residents will continue to see greater savings,” he added. 

ACA marketplace premiums went down the past two years, and expanded subsidies andtax credits through the American Rescue Plan can lower some people’s costs. 

The rate increase does not apply to Medicare or Medicaid. 

State officials estimate the special enrollment period from mid-February through the end of July saw nearly triple the number of Delawareans sign up compared to the typical enrollment for this time of year. 

Navarro attributes this to people pursuing healthcare they put off during the first year of the pandemic, people losing their employer-sponsored insurance and the Biden Administration’s support for the program. 

 

Sophia Schmidt is a Delaware native. She comes to Delaware Public Media from NPR’s Weekend Edition in Washington, DC, where she produced arts, politics, science and culture interviews. She previously wrote about education and environment for The Berkshire Eagle in Pittsfield, MA. She graduated from Williams College, where she studied environmental policy and biology, and covered environmental events and local renewable energy for the college paper.
Related Content