‘It dominates anxiety’ — unpacking the process and impact of health insurance premium hikes

Earlier this month, the Green Mountain Care Board made a decision that would affect most people and companies that get their health care through the state’s health insurance marketplace.The board said that two companies that offer insurance through Vermont Health Connect would be able to increase premiums by double digits in 2024.These increases will be less than insurers had asked for. Despite that, they’ll be among the highest annually since 2014, the first full year of the marketplace’s operation. “We had double digit rate increases last year and, from the looks of it, we are going to have double digit rate increases again this year, for insurance, for hospitals, for pharmaceuticals, clearly there is a nexus between these three things,” Charles Becker, a lawyer with the Office of the Health Care Advocate, said at a recent Green Mountain Care Board meeting. “To Vermont consumers, the dynamics of this system seem like a wildfire burning out of control.”To find out about these increases, what they mean and where they fit into the wider conversation about health insurance, host Sam Gale Rosen spoke with health care reporter Kristen Fountain on this episode of The Deeper Dig.