PROVIDENCE – UnitedHealthcare of New England, a division of the Minneapolis-based UnitedHealth Group, has been ordered to reduce its requested increase in medical insurance rates for larger employers or face a hearing.
The insurer sought to base the rates for self-insured groups of 50 or more in the assumption that medical costs and drug costs would each rise by 12.5 percent. (Other factors also play into rates, so this would not equate to a 12.5-percent premium hike.) However, those costs do account for the majority of each employer’s premium. But in a letter to United last Monday, R.I. Health Insurance Commissioner Christopher Koller said that while the drug cost trend factor was “reasonable,” the medical trend factor was “not in the interest of the public” and should be reduced to 9 percent.
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United was given 10 days to either refile with the lower medical trend factor, or request a hearing on its rating formula. Spokeswoman Debora M. Spano said United would accept the adjustment to 9 percent. The cost trend factors will be applied to policies renewed Oct. 1 or later.
