Tens of thousands of Iowa policyholders who purchase their own health insurance policies will see steep increases in their premiums for 2017.

Iowa Insurance Commissioner Nick Gerhart this morning announced approval of rate increases requested by four insurers, including market-leading Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield as well as Aetna, Gunderson Health Plan and Medica. The full amount of each request was approved by the Iowa Insurance Division, based on each company’s experience with existing individual business, and projected movement among or within the entire insured and uninsured population, the division said in a release.

The approvals followed an independent actuarial review by the division and public hearings held on each company’s proposed rate increases.

“Whether to approve the rate increase is not a decision the Commissioner has taken lightly,” Gerhart said in a statement announcing the increases. “Many Iowans will be impacted by this decision. Balancing the needs of Iowa consumers and the solvency of an insurance carrier must be weighed carefully.”

 

Wellmark received approval for an average rate increase of 42.6 percent for its preferred provider organization plans for approximately 21,900 policyholders, with variations on that increase by plan.

Additionally, about 7,700 Wellmark Health Plan of Iowa individual policyholders will see an average rate increase of 37.8 percent, while another 2,300 transitional individual policyholders under that plan will get an average  rate increase of 42.6 percent.

Aetna Health of Iowa received approval for an average rate increase of 22.6 percent, with variations by plan, for approximately 42,000 policyholders.  

Medica, which is a new entrant this year to Iowa’s individual market, proposed an average rate increase of 19 percent, which was approved by the insurance division for approximately 1,367 policyholders.

Gundersen Health Plan received approval for an average rate increase of 19.8 percent for approximately 88 policyholders.