Pennsylvania Health Insurance Rates See Stable 2019 Ahead

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HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Gov. Tom Wolf's administration says individual market health insurance rates are set to remain stable next year, following two years of steep increases.

The Pennsylvania Department of Insurance said Tuesday that health insurers filed plans for 2019 requesting an aggregate statewide increase of 5 percent.

The department says proposals filed before last month's deadline could still change, and won't be approved until just before open enrollment starts in the fall.

Premium increases in the individual markets the past two years averaged just over 30 percent in Pennsylvania.

Wolf's administration attributed 2017's increase to the need for the market to stabilize itself and the 2018 increase on the Trump administration halting cost-sharing reduction payments to insurers and creating uncertainty around the fate of the individual mandate.

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