Iowa’s largest health insurer, Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield, does not plan to increase group rates as a result of new health-reform requirements, the company said this morning. Some other health insurers say they plan to raise premiums for some Americans as a direct result of the health-care overhaul in coming weeks, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Wellmark has estimated its costs to provide coverage for small groups will increase by 2.3 percent due to provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, said Rob Schweers, a company spokesman. However, Wellmark does not plan to make any of the “off-cycle” rate adjustments to group rates that other companies are applying to their customers, he said. 

“We are absorbing any costs due to the Affordable Care Act for the time period between Sept. 23 and their renewal date,” Schweers said. That date represents the effective date of six months following passage of the reforms. However, employers are likely to see rates increase due to increases in health-care costs, he said.

Schweers said Wellmark has not yet calculated the average rate increase for groups, but those adjustments will vary significantly depending upon the size and risk of the group, he said. “The majority of any increase is going to be related to the cost of health-care services, and that’s what we’re crunching the numbers on,” Schweers said.

Aetna Inc., some Blue Cross Blue Shield plans and other smaller carriers have asked for premium increases of between 1 and 9 percent to pay for extra benefits required under the law, according to filings with state regulators, the Journal reported.

In March, Wellmark received approval from the Iowa Insurance Division to increase rates on May 1 for individual policies by an average of 18 percent. Insurance companies in Iowa must obtain approval state approval for individual policy increases, but not for group health plans. The rate increase was delayed for one month while an independent review was conducted at the request of Gov. Chet Culver.

Wellmark has said its goal is to reduce its annual increase in health care premiums to the level of inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, by 2014.