By Jessie Bekker / Las Vegas Review-Journal
Nevada’s health insurance rates will increase only slightly in 2019, the state’s Division of Insurance announced Tuesday.
Centene Corp.’s SilverSummit Health Plan and Health Plan of Nevada proposed an average 1.9 percent increase on the 15 plans they will offer in the state, the smallest increase since the Affordable Care Act took effect in 2014, Insurance Commissioner Barbara Richardson said in a release. The 41 off-exchange plans will face an average 3.1 percent rate increase.
It’s good news for Nevada, said Heather Korbulic, executive director of the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange.
“All of that shows that carriers are feeling more comfortable with the risk … and therefore their rates are stabilizing,” she said.
Last year, Health Plan of Nevada, the only carrier which returned to the state’s marketplace after Anthem and Aetna pulled out, proposed an average rate increase of 27.2 percent for plans on the exchange.
The company doesn’t plan to change on-exchange rates this year and will again only offer plans in Clark Washoe and Nye counties; SilverSummit proposed to raise rates 5.2 percent on average and will offer six plans in all of the state’s 17 counties.
“Ultimately, I think they’re finding more stable ground,” Korbulic said of the two returning insurance carriers. “They’ve got a commitment from our governor’s office and our (Division of Insurance) and the exchange to do whatever we can … to stabilize the marketplace.”
