From the Arkansas Advocate:
Insurance premiums for Arkansans on private health care plans in the state marketplace are expected to increase by an average of 22.2% in 2026, according to a Friday news release from Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
Most of the 308,662 Arkansans covered by the six health plans will not see the full rate increase thanks to subsidies offered by the federal Affordable Care Act, the release states. But those subsidies are set to expire at the end of the year if Congress doesn’t act to extend them.
ACA marketplace insurers are increasing premiums by an average of 20% in 2026, according to an August KFF analysis.
Centene manages three of the six Arkansas health plans: QualChoice, QCA Health and Celtics Insurance. Arkansas BlueCross BlueShield manages the other three plans: Health Advantage, USAble Mutual and USAble HMO.
The two parent companies initially proposed raising their premiums by 54.4% and 25.5%, respectively. Sanders asked Arkansas Insurance Commissioner Alan McClain to reject the proposals, saying she did not want insurance companies to “take advantage of our people.”
In the news release, Sanders said she negotiated with the two parent companies to propose lower rate hikes, which will go into effect Jan. 1 with approval from interim Insurance Commissioner Jimmy Harris. McClain left the position Sept. 1 to take a consulting job.
Five of the six plans will have lower premium increases than initially projected, with the exception of QualChoice Life. On average, the six plans’ increases are 35.6% lower than initially projected, according to the press release.
“More work remains, but this is a good starting point and shows that when we stand up to insurance companies, we can win tangible benefits for the people of our state,” Sanders said in the news release.
In Washington D.C., congressional Democrats have been urging Republicans to extend the enhanced tax credits for certain people who buy their health insurance through the ACA marketplace. Democrats included the tax credits in a 2021 COVID-19 relief package and extended them in 2022.
Concerns about prices spiking during the open enrollment period, which begins Nov. 1, have brought the issue of extending the tax credits to the forefront ahead of the Oct. 1 government shutdown deadline.
Passing an extension before Oct. 1 would decrease 2026 insurance premiums by 2.4% compared to previous projections, Congressional Budget Office Director Phillip Swagel wrote to federal lawmakers Thursday.
Permanently extending the tax credits would cost the government $350 billion over 10 years and insure 3.8 million more people, Swagel wrote.
