COLUMBUS, Ohio — The state’s Department of Insurance on Monday adopted a rule that will require insurance companies to announce their caps on open-enrollment rates that will try and provide more Ohioans with health coverage.
The rule is the result of an executive order signed by Gov. Ted Strickland and it outlines the requirements insurance companies are to follow to inform state residents of new rate-cap changes in the Open Enrollment Health Insurance Program. The open enrollment program is essentially a marketplace that offers individuals who cannot otherwise obtain insurance the ability to apply for and obtain coverage from private insurers. But state officials and watchdog groups have said costs for the elderly and ill are so high during open enrollment that it’s basically impossible for them to take the policies offered by insurers in the program.
Next year, open enrollment rates will be capped at twice the lowest rate charged to a person of similar age and gender. It will gradually drop until reaching a rate of 1.5 times by Jan. 1, 2012, according to the Department of Insurance. The change is eventually expected to reduce open enrollment premiums by at least 50 percent, according to the department.
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Further, new regulations will limit how much insurers can charge people with diabetes, cancer and other pre-existing or chronic conditions who purchase individual health policies through open enrollment.
To subsidize the rate cuts, insurance rates for roughly 400,000 Ohioans who purchase their own insurance would increase by an average of 5.5 percent. The 7 million residents who get insurance through their employers would not see an increase and neither would those who get insurance through Medicare.
The new regulations require insurers to publish open enrollment rates on their Web sites and set up toll-free numbers to handle questions about the open enrollment program, according Doug Anderson, chief policy advisor for the Department.
The next open enrollment period begins Jan. 1. The state estimates that the recent changes to the open enrollment program could bring coverage to an estimated 52,000 state residents without health insurance. However, the state’s uninsured are thought to number between 1.3 million and 1.5 million adults and children.
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“The new open enrollment program will expand coverage options to Ohioans who are currently unable to obtain coverage because of pre-existing conditions,” Ohio Department of Insurance Director Mary Jo Hudson said.