Florida keeps its 2015 insurance rates under wraps

Florida consumers will have to wait a little longer to find out definitively what their health insurance premiums may be in 2015, even though recent media reports suggest significant rate changes from some of the state's dominant insurers. Blame it on a Florida statute that allows insurers to withhold publishing all their proposed rates until the next open-enrollment period in the fall.

Recent attention has centered on Florida Blue, the state's largest insurer, as reports have surfaced that the company proposes increasing its premiums by an average of 17.6% when 2015 open enrollment begins in November. Proposed rate filings that are currently available to the public through the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation show an average rate increase of 17.16% for Humana's HMO, while Molina Healthcare of Florida reports it will decrease rates by an average of 11.6% for its plans.

However, it’s too early to rely on any of this information, said Harvey Bennett, communications director at the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation. That’s because it doesn’t provide the full picture of the numbers insurance companies have submitted to the state for approval. Some proposed rate increases or decreases are not being factored in or displayed to the public as a result of a curious provision of Florida law that allows insurers to keep some rates private if they can be called trade secrets.

Under the Florida statute, in order to claim a trade secret (PDF), an organization must file a notice with the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation that the information "has value and provides an advantage or an opportunity to obtain an advantage," and that the company has "taken measures to prevent the disclosure of that information."

“It’s not to keep the rate information away from the public,” Bennett said. “It’s to protect from competitors so they don’t come in and undercut rates.”

Nancy Hanewinckel, a spokeswoman for Humana, would neither confirm nor deny the HMO’s supposed 17.16% proposed rate increase displayed on the insurance regulation website, but did indicate that proposed premium rates “reflect many changing factors in the healthcare marketplace … including physician and provider fees; healthcare utilization, and increased prescription drug costs, particularly the fast-growing use of high-cost specialty medications, such as Sovaldi for hepatitis C.”

State officials are still working through the proposed rates, according to Bennett, and determining when and how to release the finalized rate changes prior to open enrollment, which begins Nov. 15.

Follow Rachel Landen on Twitter: @MHrlanden