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BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee made headlines earlier this summer when it said it wanted to raise its health insurance rates on the federal marketplace by more than 60 percent. Two other insurance companies — Cigna and Humana — had proposed increases of between 20 and 30 percent, according to the state.
But Cigna and Humana now say their increases weren't high enough, and the state is allowing all three to file new rate requests.
Their justification to the state was the same as BlueCross BlueShield's in June: that Tennesseansare an unhealthy bunch, and they're surprisingly expensive to insure.
The Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance approves all rate increases for out-of-pocket health insurance plans. (This does not include employee insurance coverage.) Department spokesman Kevin Walters says if insurance companies lose too much money, they may not stay on the federal marketplace for another year — and the number of insurance plans on there has already dropped.
Essentially, he says, it's better to let them increase their rates now than lose them altogether later.
"Fewer choices or no marketplace options at all was a very real risk, and we want to try to balance affordability and availability," he says. "It's not an easy decision to make."
The insurance companies' updated rate proposals are due Friday. The state will decide whether to approve them by Aug. 23.
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