Author
Jennifer Wessel, JD, MPH
Senior Policy Analyst and Data Privacy Officer
Contact
ACHI Communications
501-526-2244
jlyon@achi.net
(Original post published July 25, 2024)
The Arkansas Insurance Department has approved average rate hikes of 6.2% for individual market plans and 10.2% for small group plans for the 2025 plan year.
Health insurance carriers in Arkansas file proposed rate adjustments each year in response to market trends, healthcare costs, and policy shifts. The state’s carriers had initially proposed average rate increases of 4.2% for individual market plans and 9.6% for small group plans for 2025, but Arkansas law requires that the state insurance commissioner not approve any proposed rate adjustment that is deemed inadequate, excessive, or unfairly discriminatory. The Insurance Department relies on outside actuarial analysis to determine whether proposed rate adjustments are sound.
Below are the final 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 6.2% average rate increase approved for individual market plans for 2025 is higher than the 4.1% increase approved for 2024. However, the 10.2% 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 had 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.
