Kerr: Eliminating AHIM fee; strength of Arkansas Works key to market stability

LITTLE ROCK – Arkansas Insurance Commissioner Allen Kerr today released the following statement announcing that health insurance companies participating in the Arkansas Health Insurance Marketplace (AHIM) requested an average 2.08% increase for Plan Year 2020:

“The initial 2.08% average increase requested shows the stability of Arkansas’s marketplace, the strength of the Governor’s Arkansas Works plan, and how placing AHIM under the control of AID lead to the elimination of an unnecessary 1.25% marketplace fee paid by consumers and Arkansas taxpayers.”

All four insurers participating in the Marketplace in 2020 cited the elimination of the AHIM Exchange User Fee as a factor in their rate request. In previous plan years, AHIM was an independent entity with an operating budget funded by a fee charged on health insurance plans sold on the Marketplace and paid for by consumers. Act 107 of 2019 disbanded AHIM as a private entity and returned the Marketplace to the Arkansas Insurance Department for this first time since 2015.

The initial rate requests for individual on-marketplace qualified health plans (QHPs) for Plan Year 2020 are:

These initial rate requests are subject to an independent actuarial analysis under state law. The Arkansas Insurance Department has until September 18 to grant approval of rates for QHPs for Plan Year 2020.

To review PY2020 public filings, visit https://www.insurance.arkansas.gov/pages/consumer-services/rate-review/health-insurance-rate-changes-for-2020/. Open enrollment begins on November 1.