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Health--it's what we all have in common: whether we're trying to maintain our health through good habits or improve our failing health. "Bridges to Health" is 90.5 WESA's health care reporting initiative examining everything from unintended consequences of the Affordable Care Act to transparency in health care costs; from a lack of access to quality care for minority members of our society to confronting the opioid crisis in our region. It's about our individual health and the well-being of our community.Health care coverage on 90.5 WESA is made possible in part by a grant from the Jewish Healthcare Foundation.

Pennsylvania’s Individual Health Plans To See Drop In Price

Jessica Kourkounis
/
AP

Premiums for health insurers' individual policies in Pennsylvania for 2019 will reflect an aggregate statewide decrease that state officials say shows a stabilizing market.

The Pennsylvania Department of Insurance said Thursday that final rates for the individual market will drop by an aggregate of 2.3 percent statewide.

Insurers had originally requested an increase of 5 percent. Premium increases in individual markets the past two years averaged over 30 percent in Pennsylvania.

Small group rates will increase statewide by an aggregate of 2.6 percent. Meanwhile, the department says health insurers currently in Pennsylvania's individual market will remain, while a new carrier is entering.

Open enrollment for insurance under 2010's federal health care law begins Nov. 1. Consumers must sign up by Dec. 15 to for coverage to ttake effect Jan. 1.

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