Cost of most individual health plans to rise in Pa.
(Harrisburg) — The cost of health insurance premiums will rise for most Pennsylvanians next year who buy individual plans, in some cases steeply.
The state Department of Insurance ssays it has approved rates for 18 individual health insurance plans offered in Pennsylvania.
Premiums in six plans offered by Pittsburgh-based Highmark, Wilkes-Barre-based Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania and Danville-based Geisinger will rise by more than 20 percent.
In six other plans, they will rise by less than two percent or drop.
Now that some plans are subsidized by the federal government, analysts say insurers may have underestimated costs, while some may be attracting a higher proportion of heavy users of health care who were previously uninsured.
Open enrollment begins November 1 for the 2016 insurance year.
