Colo. premiums see minimal 2015 hikes

The cost of health insurance will remain nearly flat in Colorado next year with premiums increasing by an average of just 1.18 percent, state officials announced Monday.

The state’s modest increase is less than rates expected in dozens of other states. At least five states, including Indiana, Tennessee and Virginia, have projected double-digit increases in 2015, according to filings tracked by Pricewaterhouse Coopers.

“We are pleased to see that our health insurance market is so competitive, especially compared to the other states that have released their 2015 rate information,” Colorado Insurance Commissioner Marguerite Salazar said in a release Monday.

{mosads}The state will offer a total of 1,072 plans from 20 carriers. During this year’s approval process, the Colorado Division of Insurance sliced up its geographic rating areas to moderate some of the state’s higher rates.

Certain corners of the state will see big benefits. Those living in the mountain regions — which Salazar said had been a “concern for many” — will see an average drop of between 5 percent and 7.44 percent.

Salazar pointed to efforts by carriers such as Anthem and Colorado Health-Op to work with healthcare providers in those regions to drive down costs there.

Colorado residents with individual plans stand to benefit the most: premiums on those plans will rise just 0.71 percent.

The near-stable prices could be a boon for Colorado Democrats in tight reelection campaigns, including Gov. John Hickenlooper, who has backed ObamaCare, and Sen. Mark Udall, who voted for it.

Hickenlooper leads Bob Beauprez, his Republican opponent, by just two percentage points, with his support holding at 43 percent, according to a USA Today/Suffolk University poll released last week, while Udall trails Rep. Cory Gardner (R) 42 percent to 43 percent.

The same poll found that 55 percent of people believe the Affordable Care Act has been generally bad for Colorado, despite a large drop in the state’s uninsured population.

The percentage of people in Colorado without healthcare dropped from about 16 percent before ObamaCare to about 9 percent this year, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

There are wide disparities in premium hikes across the country, which some health policy experts say is related to how state leaders approach their marketplaces. While the managers of some marketplaces, like Colorado, are encouraged to bargain with insurance companies, Florida Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, banned state officials from modifying or rejecting premium increases.