If you buy health insurance on the individual market, without help from an employer, you may want to know what Arkansas is doing to protect you from unfair and unnecessary premium rate increases. Here’s a summary of the Arkansas laws that govern rate increases.
- Arkansas has authority to pre-approve premium rate increases for all individual market products before they go into effect.
- The state Insurance Department has 60 days to approve rates on HMO products, or they are deemed approved ARK. CODE ANN. § 23-76-112.
- For non-profit insurers and non-HMO products, the approval period is 30 days. ARK. CODE ANN. §§ 23-75-111, 23-79-109.
- Rates for non-HMO products may not be excessive, inadequate, or unfairly discriminatory; for all products, benefits must be reasonable in relation to premiums, meaning that a guaranteed minimum loss ratio must be met.
- Partial rates and rate filings filed after March 2008 for some companies are available online; filings are considered public. ARK. CODE ANN. § 23-76-128.
- The state has closed block regulations: ARK. CODE ANN. § 23-79-109.
Information is based on review of state statutes and regulations and, in some cases, interviews or emails with state insurance departments.