Health insurance carriers in Arkansas are proposing average rate hikes of 4.2% for individual market plans and 9.6% for small group plans for the 2025 plan year.
Insurers file proposed rate adjustments each year in response to market trends, healthcare costs, and policy shifts. Under Arkansas law, the Arkansas Insurance Department reviews the proposed rates to ensure that plans are priced appropriately. The state insurance commissioner must disapprove any rate that is deemed excessive, inadequate, or unfairly discriminatory.
Below are the proposed rate filings for 2025 plans that comply with the requirements of the Affordable Care Act. These include individual plans offered through the Arkansas Health Insurance Marketplace and individual and small group plans offered outside the marketplace.
Individual On/Off-Market Plans
Small Group Off-Market Plans
The 4.2% average rate hike proposed for individual market plans for 2025 is similar to the 4.1% average rate hike that was approved for 2024. However, the 9.6% average rate hike proposed for small group plans in 2025 is considerably higher than the rate hikes approved in previous years, as shown below. The average rate hike for small group plans is driven largely by increases requested by UnitedHealthcare. UnitedHealthcare attributes the requested increases, in part, to changes in medical utilization, increased service costs, risk adjustments, and projected catastrophic claim adjustments.
Rate filings for previous years can be found on the federal government’s Rate Review website.
Since 2018, Arkansas has lower average monthly individual market premiums than any of the surrounding states. In 2024, Arkansas had the 13th-lowest marketplace benchmark premium in the nation. For more information, see our Data Watch: Arkansas Individual Marketplace Health Insurance Premiums.
