rate hikes

Health insurers must submit their first set of rate increases after the implementation of Cover Oregon to the Insurance Division by May 31, and this year’s filings will include a whole new set of measurements, forcing insurers to do some math about how they’re keeping costs under control. The new measures, called “Cost and Quality Metrics” will not be used to approve or adjust rate hikes from the insurance companies. Instead, they’re likely to determine future rate increases by taking a snapshot of healthcare spending and cost controls in 2014. The Legislature and the Insurance Division could put some teeth into these metrics later and hold insurers accountable for avoiding big departures from those numbers in subsequent years.

March 22, 2013 — Sen. Laurie Monnes Anderson, D-Gresham, helped Regence BlueCross BlueShield and other insurers defeat a requirement that they notify consumers of pending rate hikes above 7 percent — a measure pushed by Sen. Chip Shields, D-Portland, which easily passed the Senate in the 2011 session.

July 6, 2012 – Regence BlueCross BlueShield is after rate hikes in both Oregon and Washington for people who purchase their own coverage. A public hearing on a rate request impacting close to 53,000 Oregonians is scheduled for 3 p.m., July 30 in Salem. If approved, that 9.6 average increase would take effect in December.