State health insurance regulators rejected a pair of proposed hefty premium increases from major insurers and allowed six other carriers to increase rates by 7% or more, albeit at lower levels than originally sought.
The Division of Insurance on Monday published final 2026 rates for the merged market, which provides hundreds of thousands of Bay Staters with health insurance through individual or small business plans.
The department gave six insurers approval to increase rates, and rejected similar attempts by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts and WellSense Health Plan — the second- and third-largest carriers in the merged market, respectively.
Blue Cross, which serves more than 166,000 members, sought to increase its rates 12.9% next year, and WellSense, which has about 133,000 members and is also known as Boston Medical Center Health Plan, proposed a 16.2% increase. Both carriers have the right to appeal the disapprovals.
Tufts Health, which DOI said has more than 187,000 merged market customers enrolled, will be allowed to increase rates 11.1% next year, a sizable jump that’s smaller than the 13.2% the carrier originally proposed.
The department approved merged market rate increases of 12.2% for Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, 9.4% for Health New England, 9.3% for United Healthcare, 7.2% for Mass General Brigham Health Plan, and 7.1% for Fallon Community Health.
Insurance costs for individual and small business customers have been rising sharply in recent years amid a period of sustained spending growth in the health care industry. At a public hearing last month, several insurers defended their proposals and sought to blame providers and the pharmaceutical industry for driving up costs.