Anthem Premium Increases in Connecticut

CT regulators have come under criticism from HHS for approving premium increases of up to 39% by Anthem for their various individual plans. In response the CT regulators said they thoroughly reviewed the requests and said that the increases were justified as Anthem made benefit changes to comply with the PPACA. Specifically:

In his letter, Sullivan noted that because of some provisions of the federal reform law, insurers had to raise several of their benefits to be in compliance. This, he wrote, was a contributing factor to the premium increases. He cited as an example one of Anthem’s prescription drug benefits that previously had a maximum limit of $500 annually and now has been raised to $750,000 to be in compliance with the reform law. According to Sullivan, this hike alone will result in a nearly 23% cost increase for that plan.