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The New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) recently approved health insurance rate increases<\/a> for 2025. The rate increase will be about 12.7 percent for individual plans and 8.4 percent for small group plans.<\/p>\n The increase is also dependent on the carrier. According to the Times Union<\/a>, United Health Care, one of the state and nation\u2019s largest, was flat with no increase for individual coverage. Emblem\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n State officials attribute the increase to a rise in medical costs, including hospital stays and prescription drugs.<\/p>\n The NYSDF stated<\/a>, “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\u2019 profit provisions to only 1.0%.”<\/p>\n However, state officials said health insurers had proposed increases of 17 percent and 19 percent.<\/p>\n “In the individual market, the New York State Department of Financial Services reduced insurers\u2019 requested rates 23%. In the small group market, DFS reduced insurers\u2019 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.<\/p>\n 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<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n The rate hikes will go into effect in 2025.<\/p>\n 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<\/a> like Anthem, Aetna, Blue Cross, CDPHP, Highmark, MVP, and others.<\/p>\nContaining the costs of employee benefits<\/h2>\n