Washington state residents who purchase individual health insurance face an average 22.2% rate increase starting in 2027. The Washington State Insurance Commission approved the double-digit rate hike on the Washington Health Benefit Exchange after insurance companies initially requested an average 22.4% increase.
According to the commission, the rate increases impact roughly 250,000 Washington residents who purchase health insurance on their own rather than through a large employer. State regulators faced a decision between approving the higher rates or risking that insurance providers would pull out of the state market entirely, according to WA State Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer.
Commissioner Kuderer explained that state law required the approval to stave off the possibility that insurance companies could abandon the WA market. “Under the law, our office is required to approve those,” Kuderer said. “If we were to say no, you can’t raise the rates that much, they would simply just leave the market here. That would tighten competition even more, and that could leave some counties even without an insurance provider.” Kuderer noted that health care consolidation has reduced market competition and contributed to three consecutive years of double-digit rate increases for independent buyers.
“If there isn’t a real attempt to break that up, I think you’re going to continue to see rising costs,” Kuderer said. “We have a system that’s, like I said, becoming more and more dominated by certain players.”
The commissioner emphasized that the steep increases heavily burden specific groups of workers and small employers across the state. “We’re talking about people who are self-employed, early retirees, small business owners with fewer than 15 employees; these are people who really rely on the exchange to provide health coverage for their workers,” Kuderer said. “And I can tell you this is becoming more and more out of reach.”
During the upcoming legislative session, Kuderer plans to ask lawmakers to support expanding the availability and use of primary care providers to help lower health care expenses. “If people had access to and utilized primary care, we would see a drop in health care costs,” Kuderer said.