WASHINGTON – Hoosiers who buy individual health insurance through the federal exchange will find that prices and plan offerings are changing next year.
In filings with the Indiana Department of Insurance, companies already selling plans are seeking rate changes ranging from 11 percent less to 96 percent more. And new entrants in the exchange mean some Hoosiers could buy cheaper plans than they have now — another reason to shop around.
Five companies are seeking to join the four insurers that sell plans on the exchange. That’s the most new entrants of the 16 states for which filings are public.
“It’s good for the citizens of Indiana to have a competitive health insurance marketplace,” said Jim Brunnemer, chief financial officer for Physicians Health Plan of Northern Indiana. “That seems to be bearing out for 2015.”
The premiums that one new entrant — CareSource — wants to charge are so much lower than other insurers’ that state regulators raised that issue with the company, according to the filings.
Because of the changes, many Hoosiers who qualify for federal help in buying a plan could pay less in premiums next year, according to an analysis by the consulting firm McKinsey & Co.
About 130,000 to 140,000 Hoosiers get their insurance on their own, mostly through the exchange, instead of through an employer or a government program, such as Medicare. That figure could double next year as the exchange — which was created by the 2010 Affordable Care Act and began this year — becomes more established.