Vermont announces exchange plan rates

Rates being offered for the benchmark “silver plan” for individuals will be a bit less than $395 per month for individuals buying a Vermont Blue product, and $410 a month for those buying a similar policy form MVP Health Care. Those prices are similar to what an individual pays now for a similar suite of coverage options, Goddard said.

Lower-income Vermonters will get federal tax credits and state premium subsidies to cover some of the costs. For someone making the median individual income of about $34,000 a year, that will reduce the cost of the Blue Cross plan to about $230 a month, and the MVP plan to $252.

The Blue Cross family plan will cost $1,111 a month through Vermont Health Connect. For MVP it will be $1,151.

The rates described by the Green Mountain Care Board are for a mid-range health insurance offering what it terms a “silver level” plan.

The standard EHB benefit package will include coverage for outpatient care, emergency services, hospitalization, maternity and newborn care, mental health and substance abuse disorder services, behavioral health treatment, prescription drugs, rehabilitative services, laboratory services, preventative care and pediatric services, including oral and vision care for children.

The Green Mountain Care Board said it shaved 4.3 percent off the rates initially proposed by Blue Cross and 5.3 percent off the rates offered by MVP. But Wallack said more needs to be done to control the cost of insurance and of the health care it buys.

The reductions will save Vermonters money, but “the underlying cost of health care and health insurance remain alarmingly high, and we have to redouble our efforts to address this problem,” she said.

See also:

• Can a state force business onto an exchange?
• Vermont board begins PPACA exchange plan rate reviews
• Vermont comp proposal: $15 per person per month