For the second year in a row, three health insurers offering individual health plans under the Affordable Care Act in Tennessee are planning to cut their premiums next year as the competition among insurers grows with the return of the nation’s biggest health insurer into the Tennessee health exchange market.
Cigna, Oscar Health and Celtic /Ambetter are all proposing to lower premiums on their individual plans in 2021 and UnitedHealthcare, which is America’s biggest health insurer by revenue, is returning to the Tennessee market in Chattanooga, Nashville, Memphis and other west Tennessee cities.
But the state’s biggest health insurer, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, plans to boost its increase in premiums next year for individuals by nearly 10% after making only a modest 1.4% boost in its premium rates in 2020.
BlueCross, which is the only health insurer that plans to participate in the health exchange market for individuals in all 95 of Tennessee’s counties, is planning to boost its premiums next year for individuals by 9.8% and will raise it rates for small employer groups by 2.8%.
Dalya Qualls, director of corporate communications at BlueCross, said the rate increases reflect the costs of health care, which is projected to rise by 1.8% for the treatment of the coronavirus and by even more from increased claims and higher drug costs.