NY Health Insurers To Make Rate Increase Data Public

In a move that could reduce health insurance premium hikes, several health insurance companies in New York have agreed to publish data they use to justify rate increase requests with the state. This transparency will help promote competition within the health insurance market in New York.

Several of these carriers include:

-Empire BlueCross/BlueShield
-UnitedHealthCare/Oxford
-EmblemHealth (GHI)
-Aetna
-Excellus BlueCross/BlueShield
-HealthNow

While health insurance companies in New York have been required to seek prior approval for rate increases with the state insurance department since 2010, it has not been required that they publicly release the specifics as to why they need to increase premiums. This new commitment from NY carriers may very well change the severity of year-over-year rate increases for small and large business group benefits in New York.