The Connecticut Insurance Department approved a 10.4 percent increase in ConnectiCare Inc.’s premiums on large employer group policies, with the carrier having requested an 11.7 percent hike.
The increase kicks in Oct. 1 on employers in ConnectiCare’s large group program, those with more than 50 workers. The insurance department said it will effect 650 policyholders who provide coverage for 52,000 employees and their dependents in Connecticut.
ConnectiCare had justified the 11.7 percent figure based on projected increases in the cost of medical services and drugs, as well as the impact of the federal women’s health care mandate.
The Connecticut Insurance Department also is forcing ConnectiCare to cut rates for individual policyholders by a steeper margin than the company’s request of just under 1 percent, affecting about 2,100 policyholders. Instead, ConnectiCare must cut by 3.4 percent the coming year’s premiums on policies sold between October 2009 and February 2010, and a decrease of 2.2 percent on those sold between April 2010 and November 2011.
Farmington-based ConnectiCare is a subsidiary of New York City-based EmblemHealth.
