The annual review of health insurance rates helps to protect consumers from insurance companies unjustly increasing rates on premiums. Federal regulations specify that 2018 health insurance rates must be made public by August 1 to facilitate this review process but the Missouri Department of Insurance has postponed public access of these filings in our state to September 1, 2017.

With all the activity on the national level regarding the future of subsidies and the last-minute addition of Centene to the MO marketplace, it is no surprise that the Department has postponed the date. But the delay will hurt the ability of consumers and advocates to review health insurance rate increases for 2018.

This makes our work even more important. Consumers Council of Missouri and our rate review legal team will be ready to go come September 1. Stay tuned for what’s in store for MO health insurance consumers.

With a large part of MO at risk of having no insurer next year, Centene decides to sell Obamacare plans in MO. Read more here.

This is the second consecutive year that federal officials extended the deadline for consumers to sign up for coverage through Affordable Care Act marketplaces. By the start of this week, about 4 million people had chosen ACA plans. Obama administration officials estimated that more than 11 million will be covered through ACA in 2017.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/2016/12/15/6b949e9a-c339-11e6-9a51-cd56ea1c2bb7_story.html?utm_term=.b15768b4ab41

Bad news for consumers. Anthem-Cigna merger hearing has been post-poned by the MO Dept of Insurance. A Missouri hearing would have given the department the opportunity to look into how the merger would affect MO consumers before it goes to a federal judge.

The department held a similar hearing for the merger between Aetna and Humana and ruled against this merger. A similar decision would have been important for the federal judge to know before ruling.

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/missouri-department-of-insurance-postpones-anthem-cigna-hearing/article_efd3bbd5-f3f5-5df0-b894-fae728099bdf.html

Today marked the first day of the federal trial over the proposed Anthem-Cigna merger which would create the nation’s largest health insurance company. Government antitrust lawyers are attempting to block this $48 billion deal which threatens to reshape the U.S. market for health coverage.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2016/11/21/antitrust-trial-over-aetna-cigna-merger-begins/94222422/

The U.S. Department of Justice is challenging what it says is the largest merger in the history of the health insurance industry. On Monday, the Justice Department will begin arguing its case against Anthem’s $54 billion acquisition of Cigna Corp.

This merger would be particularly painful for St. Louis area consumers where these two insurers have a significant portion of the market share.

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/consumers-should-pay-attention-to-insurance-antitrust-case/article_5a24485f-b821-5d4f-969b-904c1ecd1867.html#utm_source=stltoday.com&utm_campaign=BusinessNewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=1DBDAE0183C0B49F9CB94AD3EE8564A5EF7394FF