POST EXCLUSIVE
Insurers’ requests vary from 31% hike to cuts Most fifilings are hidden from public view as company trade secrets.
Secrecy shrouds much of the picture, but the first glimmers reveal that Florida health insurers seek rate increases up to 31 percent in 2016, records obtained by The Palm Beach Post show.
Most filings are hidden from public view as trade secrets, but documents show one UnitedHealthcare compa- ny has requested a 31.3 percent rate increase and another has asked for 18.2 percent.
At the same time, there’s a glimpse of good news for consumer wallets, too: At least two insurers are requesting decreases, 4.7 percent and 9.2 percent respectively. The largest known drop is by an affiliate of Florida Blue, the state’s largest health insurer.
Sixteen of 20 companies that filed 2016 rates for Affordable Care Act plans in Florida have requested their records be treated as trade se-
crets, state officials said. Courts eventually might rule on what should remain secret, but for now, that means the numbers won’t be known until later in the regulatory process. Florida is regulating health rates again after a self-imposed t woyear ban, but it could be late summer before the approved rates are announced.
What’s known: UnitedHealthcare Life Insurance Co. seeks a 31.3 percent average increase and UnitedHealthcare of Florida an 18.2 percent average rise.
A UnitedHealthcare spokeswoman said premiums reflect a mix of factors including “utilization of health care and medical costs in a given geographic area” and other factors including additional mandated coverage required at the state or federal level, taxes, fees and plan design.
“We continue to look for ways to address the underlying cost drivers of health care and to ensure that consumers have access to qualit y coverage in the state,” said Elizabeth Calzadilla-Fiallo, a UnitedHealthcare spokeswoman in Miramar.
Records from the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation show Miamibased AvMed, with about 315,000 customers, has requested a 4.7 percent average decrease.
Florida Health Care Plan — an affiliated company of Florida Blue, the state’s largest insurer — is asking for a 9.2 percent average decrease.
“FHCP is lowering its 2016 marketplace rates by more than 9 percent, due in part to the cost savings earned by the leveraging of administrative and back office functions between FHCP and Florida Blue,” spokesman Paul Kluding said. “Plus, because of its staff model HMO design, the company was able to gain greater efficiencies in managing and controlling the utilization of health services for its mem- bers.”
Florida Blue filed its 2016 marketplace rates as a trade secret because of competitive reasons, Kluding said.
Last year, 14 companies in Florida filed rate requests ranging from a 5 percent drop to a 23 percent increase, averaging more than 13 percent. Florida Blue raised rates 18 percent.
Florida legislators passed a law saying state insurance regulators could not regulate rates for t wo years, but that lapsed this year.
In contrast, states that actively reviewed or negotiated rates saw much smaller increases — about 4 percent in California and 6 percent in New York, for example.