Covered California will raise premiums an average 5.9 percent in its 2017 small business health insurance market — a “moderate” rise compared to previous years, exchange officials said Thursday.
This rate hike is down from 7.2 percent in 2016.
“In both individual and small group, we’re building competitive markets where consumers are the winners,” Peter V. Lee, Covered California’s executive director, said Thursday. The rates for next year “demonstrate that markets are working to keep premiums under control and give consumers more choices than they’ve ever had.”
Approximately 28,000 people have insurance through Covered California’s small business marketplace. That makes it one of the largest small business health coverage programs in the country, according to officials. But it’s still dwarfed by the 1.4 million people covered in the exchange’s individual market.
The relatively modest hike in small business premiums contrasts sharply with rate increases in Covered California’s individual market for next year.