Maine Will Combine Individual, Small-Group Insurance Markets
Maine will merge its small-group and individual exchange health insurance markets starting in plan year 2023. Experts tell AIS Health, a division of MMIT, that the move is a bid to stabilize small-group premiums, which have gone up in recent years.
According to a Feb. 15 press release from the state’s Bureau of Insurance, “the merger, which will pool the risks of the two markets and roll the Small Group coverage into the Maine Guaranteed Access Reinsurance Association (MGARA), is projected to reverse the trend of steady premium increases and declining enrollments in Maine’s Small Group Market, while supporting continued stable pricing in the Individual Market.”