Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
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 Plan Premiums To Rise 4%

Gene J. Puskar
/
AP
This is the Highmark Headquarters in downtown Pittsburgh on Wednesday, June 26, 2019.

Premiums for health insurers' individual policies in Pennsylvania for 2020 will reflect an aggregate statewide increase of 4 percent, with an increase of 10 percent in the small group market.

The Pennsylvania Department of Insurance said Thursday that the new plans will be available when open enrollment starts Nov. 1.

Premiums for individual health insurance policies dropped in the current year, after increases the two years before that averaged over 30 percent in Pennsylvania.

Gov. Tom Wolf's administration says more insurers are entering the market, and the number of counties with only one insurer offering coverage in the individual market will decrease to six.

Consumers must sign up by Dec. 15 for coverage to take effect Jan. 1.

The Associated Press is one of the largest and most trusted sources of independent newsgathering, supplying a steady stream of news to its members, international subscribers and commercial customers. AP is neither privately owned nor government-funded; instead, it's a not-for-profit news cooperative owned by its American newspaper and broadcast members.