While still too early to tell exactly why it’s happening, the fact is, the rate of growth of health insurance premiums in Rhode Island is slowing down.
The recent approval of new rates for 2015 by the state Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner shows that the four insurers in the market – Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island, UnitedHealthcare of New England, Tufts Health Plan and Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island – are seeing rate increases below the long-term trend, with Neighborhood even asking for, and receiving, rate decreases.
No one is ready to say that the Affordable Care Act is the reason for the rate increase slowdown. But there are a number of efforts, supported by the insurance commissioner as well as insurers and providers, that are starting to have an effect on the cost of care.
Accountable-care organizations, patient-centered medical homes and electronic health records all are tools being employed to differing degrees to help drive costs down. But so much more can and needs to be done.
Blue Cross President Peter Andruszkiewicz says that Rhode Island has the most fragmented health care delivery system he has seen and that it drives up costs. It’s a common observation in the Ocean State in so many areas, health care just being one. It’s time to stop venerating the “independent” man and learn to work together. •