Individuals and small businesses in Oregon will see their health insurance costs increase next year after state officials signed off on average hikes as high as 16%.
The 2025 rates announced Thursday affect about 170,000 Oregonians who buy their own insurance but are not on Medicare, as well as businesses with 50 or fewer employees that buy small-group policies.
Premiums for Oregonians buying their own coverage on the individual market will jump by an average of about 8%, while rates will jump by roughly 12% for small businesses.
Regulators at the state Division of Financial Regulation spent months evaluating insurers’ proposed increases before making final rate approvals. Only one person submitted a public comment on the hikes.
“These rate increases are terrible,” the commenter wrote anonymously. “I already have many people who bail on the Marketplace because it is still too expensive for their income level. There will be more and more people who will go uninsured because of this.”
PacificSource Health Plans secured the largest individual-plan increase with an 11% average hike. A filing from the company cited rising medical and pharmaceutical costs as well as an expiring federal subsidy.
A 40-year-old living in Portland and covered by a PacificSource “silver” plan will pay a monthly premium of $573, according to the division. Silver plans offer a medium level of benefits.
That same consumer would pay $486 a month for a silver plan offered by the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Northwest, which had the lowest individual rate hike at 5%.
The other hikes in the individual market included 9% on average for BridgeSpan Health Company, 8% for Moda Health Plan, Inc., 9.5% for Providence Health Plan and 8% for Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon.
Rate hikes larger for small businesses
In the small group market, Providence Health Plan sought the largest average increase at 16%, which regulators approved. That hike means the company can charge $467 a month for a silver plan for a 40-year-old living in Portland.
Providence’s hikes on different benefit plans range between 8.5% to nearly 28%, for which the insurer cited inflation as well as projected jumps in demand for medical care and prescription drugs, according to a filing.
Kaiser also had the lowest rate increase for the small group market at 7.8%, resulting in a monthly premium of $435 for a 40-year-old in Portland.
The other hikes in the small group market included about 8% on average for Health Net Health Plan of Oregon, about 10% for Moda Health Plan, Inc., 5.7% for PacificSource Health Plans, 13.6% for Regence BlueCross BlueShield, 12.7% for UnitedHealthcare Insurance and about 13% for UnitedHealthcare of Oregon,
According to the state, Moda Health Plan has expanded its offerings to Benton, Linn and Lincoln counties, meaning five insurers will offer plans in every Oregon county.
The others that sell plans in every county are BridgeSpan, PacificSource, Providence and Regence.
You can reach Jake Thomas at [email protected] or via X @jthomasreports
Comments
The lead mix of "high" and …
The lead mix of "high" and "average" is more entertaining than informative....
As someone who runs a small business (less than 50 employees) that happens to be a Medical clinic, this is highway robbery. For years we've suffered through double digit hikes to rates we pay for our employees to have access to decent healthcare. Where will this end? Why is it insurance companies like Providence can receive a 16% increase in rates paid to them....yet they do not increase the rates they pay to providers that actually provide the care they promise with their coverage? What is their basis for the increase if not to pay for services? If we are lucky, as a medical clinic our payment rates might go up by 2% in any given year....but Providence and Regence will NOT negotiate with us or any other independent clinic. Period. I won't even touch on the high deductibles required by plans we have access to. We continue to pay Hundreds of Thousands of dollars per year to cover our employees.....yet they also pay out of pocket for services under the high deductibles - with insurance not paying a dime for them. Where's the parity? Why is it the State of Oregon continues to allow this to happen? Why wasn't there more public comment? I'll tell you why. It's a secret when comment periods are open. If no one knows about it, no one can comment. As a subscriber to the Lund Report, I'm seriously disappointed in you for not letting us know there even IS a comment period and when it opened up. I can assure you - practices will line up to give their data as to why this is a ridiculous system doomed to fail....and sooner than anyone would like.