UnitedHealth unit to join Covered California exchange

PPACA itself uses the cost of the second cheapest silver plan in a market as a benchmark for setting PPACA premium tax credit subsidy levels. The rate of increase in the cost of the second cheapest silver plan could fall to 1.8 percent in 2016, from 2.6 percent this year.

For consumers who are willing to switch to the cheapest QHP in any given “metal level,” the average rate should fall 4.5 percent between this year and next, the exchange says.

But, at press time, the California Department of Insurance and the California Department of Managed Health Care had not posted any of the issuers’ official 2016 rate filing applications, or any applications for individual, fully PPACA-compliant coverage taking effect after the start of 2015.

“The rate information in this book is preliminary, as it is still subject to public regulatory review,” the exchanges notes in its preliminary 2016 rate guide.

In Oregon, the insurance commissioner argued that many insurers’ proposed 2016 rate increases were too low. The commissioner ended up requiring some carriers to increase 2016 rates more than they had originally proposed.

See also: 5 Oregon insurers under orders to raise their rates

The California Department of Managed Health Care will review the 2016 rate proposals from all 12 of the likely 2016 QHP issuers, and the California Department of Insurance will review one of the carrier’s proposals, the exchange says.

Once the rate proposals show up in the state rate review systems, members of the public will have 60 days to comment on the proposals.