Attorney General Peter F. Neronha is urging the R.I. Office of Health Insurance Commissioner to reject all proposed rate hikes submitted by insurers for 2025.
“We have a system that is broken,” Neronha said in a public comment letter submitted to the R.I. Office of Health Insurance Commissioner Aug. 8. “History has shown that significant rate increases year after year have not translated into improved access to and quality of care. Insurers get what they need, while consumers, providers, and our health care system continue to suffer.”
In June, several local health insurers requested commercial health insurance rate increases for 2025 ranging from 2.5% to 22.7% and affecting more than 171,000 Rhode Islanders.
On Aug. 2nd, Neronha called Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island’s proposed 14.3% individual market increase, affecting more than 17,500 consumers, “staggering [and] unfair.”
Blue Cross responded in a statement to PBN claiming that the proposed hike reflects “ongoing increases in the cost of health care driven by soaring prescription drugs costs and a widely reported nationwide surge in the utilization of medical services post-pandemic.”
OHIC’s final decisions on 2025 rate changes are expected this month.
