Major insurer Florida Blue could raise rates in 2015 for people enrolled through the federal health-care exchange after seeing a large number of older and sicker enrollees, Kaiser Health News reported Monday.
Patrick Geraghty, chief executive officer of the Jacksonville-based insurer, said the company remains committed to the individual health-insurance market. But Geraghty told Kaiser Health News that rates also could be affected by such factors as a relative lack of younger and healthier enrollees.
“We will be under tremendous financial pressure initially given the age, risk profile and high utilization of the new membership,” he said. “It is far from clear that large enrollment in the marketplace is a financially beneficial place to be.”
Kaiser Health News said Florida Blue, which formerly was known as Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, would not disclose its proposed 2015 rates. That proposal was submitted to state regulators last month. Florida Blue added 339,000 customers through the Affordable Care Act’s federal marketplace this year, according to Kaiser Health News.
-source: The News Service of Florida
