Two major health insurers offering exchange plans in Tennessee under ObamaCare today nearly doubled their previous rate increase requests for 2017, according to rate filings submitted this afternoon.
Cigna Healthcare is asking to raise the rates for its individual exchange policies by 46.3 percent, up from its request in June for a 23 percent hike, and Humana health insurance is now asking for a 44.3 percent increase next year, up from is 29 percent increase sought two months ago.
Tennessee's biggest health insurer, the Chattanooga-based BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, is already seeking an even bigger 62 percent average increase in its rates for ObamaCare policies in 2017.
The insurers say such hefty increases are needed to reverse losses they are now incurring with such plans in a state where higher rates of obesity, poor diet and inadequate exercise is pushing up health care problems and expenses.
Kevin Walters, communications director for the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, said today that the companies must still justify their rate increase requests and state regulators will review the company's financial statements and costs to determine how much of any rate increase to grant.
"The carriers will be required to send senior staff to Nashville to defend the revised filing," Walters said. "At the same time, our actuarial consultants will dig into every revised assumption to determine whether the submissions are justifiable."
Combined with previous rate increases in the past two years, the rate filings suggest that insurers in Tennessee think they need to nearly double their initial rates from before the start of Obamacare tto adequately cover their costs.