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The New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) recently approved health insurance rate increases for 2025. The rate increase will be about 12.7 percent for individual plans and 8.4 percent for small group plans.
The increase is also dependent on the carrier. According to the Times Union, United Health Care, one of the state and nation’s largest, was flat with no increase for individual coverage. Emblem’s HIP plan was approved for a 35.6 percent hike, although they requested a 51 percent increase. For small group plans covering employers with up to 100 people, the average increase was 8.4 percent. Those varied between one percent for United Healthcare to 21.7 percent for IHBC. About 260,000 New Yorkers are covered by individual plans, and more than 700,000 are covered by small group plans.
State officials attribute the increase to a rise in medical costs, including hospital stays and prescription drugs.
The NYSDF stated, “The rising cost of medical care, including in-patient hospital stays as well as rapid increases in drug prices, continues to be the main driver of health insurance premium increases. In light of the continued increases in costs of health care and other consumer goods and services, DFS held insurers’ profit provisions to only 1.0%.”
However, state officials said health insurers had proposed increases of 17 percent and 19 percent.
“In the individual market, the New York State Department of Financial Services reduced insurers’ requested rates 23%. In the small group market, DFS reduced insurers’ requested rates 55%. Approximately one million New Yorkers are enrolled in individual and small group plans,” the New York State Department of Financial Services stated.
The Times Union also reports that insurance industry representatives are saying that increases are driven by rising costs of health care, along with taxes and regulatory schemes that hinder efforts to save money on items like pharmaceuticals. The New York Health Plan Association, representing health insurance companies, pointed to rising prescription drug costs, including prices on 820 brand-named medications that went up this year. There are also taxes on health insurance, which they say adds more than $1,000 to the cost of coverage for the average family and government-mandated benefits.
The rate hikes will go into effect in 2025.
Containing the costs of employee benefits
While the cost of employee benefits continues to rise, the GTM Insurance Agency’s employee benefits design skills, cutting-edge technology, and expert HR support can help you streamline and automate processes, reduce administrative costs, and relieve HR burdens, all while delivering benefits that will delight your workforce. GTM has access to top local insurance carriers like Anthem, Aetna, Blue Cross, CDPHP, Highmark, MVP, and others.
Enhance your employees’ benefits package with supplemental insurance (sometimes called voluntary benefits) to help prepare your employees for life’s unexpected challenges. All at no cost to you.
With GTM, you’ll automate your open enrollment, onboarding, and benefits administration to eliminate errors, simplify benefits for employees, and free up time for more pressing HR matters.
A complimentary integration with Employee Navigator or direct integration into GTM’s payroll and human capital management (HCM) platform means you’ll enjoy an efficient online process with access at any time from any device.
With GTM’s HR consulting team at the ready, you’ll have access to experts who can assist with designing a benefits plan, understanding your employee needs, and transitioning your benefits administration. Or, we can take other HR administrative tasks off your plate so you don’t fall behind while focusing on benefits management.
To learn more, call the GTM Insurance Agency at (518) 373-4111 or complete our online form to receive a complimentary quote on your employee benefits.
