HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration says Pennsylvania’s health insurance market is improving, with health insurers offering individual market policies for 2019 with an average statewide rate increase of less than 1 percent.
The Pennsylvania Department of Insurance also said Monday that customers in 31 of 67 counties will see more insurers offering policies.
The projected increase is lower than the aggregate statewide increase of 5 percent that insurers originally requested at May’s deadline.
The department says it lowered projected increases after it reviewed 2018 costs, including federal cost-sharing payments covering deductibles, co-payments and co-insurance for lower-income buyers.
Rates won’t be approved until just before open enrollment starts in the fall.
The relatively flat rates follow premium increases in individual markets the past two years that averaged over 30 percent in Pennsylvania.
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