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HEALTH INSURERS PUSH HUGE PREMIUM HIKES  
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Veronica Riccobene, Helen Santoro
July 18, 2025
The Lever
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_ Health insurance companies are asking state regulators to approve
eye-popping rate increases nationwide — reaching 66 percent for some
policies. _

, AP Photo / Jenny Kane

 

The six largest health insurers reported more than $1 trillion in
revenue and more than $31 billion in net income last year — and are
now pushing to raise Americans’ premiums by as much as 66 percent
for some policies, according to recent state regulatory filings. The
proposed increases come as insurers dole out billions to further
enrich top brass and shareholders through stock buybacks and
dividends.

In all, Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces across the country are
projected to see the largest rate hikes in more than five
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years, driving up out-of-pocket premiums for individual plan
policyholders by more than 75 percent on average, according to data
compiled by the Kaiser Family Foundation. More than 21 million
Americans who don’t have employer-sponsored health insurance rely on
the ACA marketplace for coverage.

Many health insurers point to rising costs associated with President
Donald Trump’s global tariffs and expiring federal premium tax
credits, which they claim will significantly threaten their ability to
remain competitive. 

State insurance regulators have the power
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to reject requests for “excessive” health insurance premium
increases in the marketplace. 

Meanwhile, as claim
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denials
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prescription drug prices
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and out-of-pocket spending
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rise, a startling number
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of Americans say it is difficult to afford
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their health care bills, while more than half of those with health
insurance say at least 10 percent
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of their monthly spending goes toward health care alone. 

_The Lever_ previously reported that the industry’s top earners have
raked in more than $371 billion in profits
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since the ACA’s passage.

Big Rate Hikes, Big Profits

According to health insurers, rates are rising largely because an
expanded federal tax credit for individuals and families who might
otherwise not be able to afford insurance through the ACA marketplace
is set to expire at the end of the year (unless Republican leaders in
Congress intervene
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This credit reduced health insurance premiums for more than 22 million
people this year, or 92 percent
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of all ACA policyholders, and without it, insurers argue that they
can’t afford to cover the bill — instead passing on increased
costs to consumers.

That’s what many health care insurers admitted to in their state
filings requesting marketplace premium rate hikes. However,
insurers’ financial reports show they’re generating billions of
dollars in revenue and enriching top shareholders — not
policyholders — through stock buybacks and dividends.

Anthem plans are seeing sharp rate hikes across multiple states. For
example, HMO Colorado — a subsidiary of Elevance Health, formally
known as Anthem — has proposed an average premium increase of more
than 33 percent
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for individuals. In Maine, Anthem is seeking an 18 percent
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average rate increase, citing the expiration of federal premium tax
credits. 

Last year, Elevance Health, which operates Anthem Blue Cross Blue
Shield plans across 14 states, including Colorado and Maine, generated
$175 billion
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in revenue, a nearly 8 percent increase from 2023. In just the first
quarter of 2025, Elevance Health drew in over $48 billion
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in revenue, up 15 percent from the same time in 2023 — and already
this year, the company has distributed over $1.2 billion
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to its shareholders through stock buybacks and dividends. 

“The increases for the quarter and year were driven primarily by
higher premium yields,” the company stated in its earnings report
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Meanwhile, in Arkansas, USAble Mutual Insurance Co., an affiliate and
partner of Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, requested
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to raise premium rates by an average of 25 percent for nearly 100,000
policyholders. The insurer blamed, in part, “reduced member
cost-sharing” brought on by a new law banning Arkansas pharmacies
from owning their own pharmacy benefit managers
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the prescription drug price-negotiating middlemen charged with
inflating
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medication costs.

UnitedHealthcare’s premium rates on the marketplace are also set to
rise in some states. In New York, the insurer has proposed a rate hike
of more than 66 percent for some policyholders, and in Washington, the
company proposed a 37 percent rate increase. Meanwhile,
UnitedHealthcare’s parent company, UnitedHealth Group, reported a
revenue of more than $400 billion in 2024, 77 percent of which came
from premiums, according to the company's earnings report
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The health care conglomerate, which is the largest insurer in the
nation, experienced a financially turbulent
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year in 2024 after an expensive cyberattack
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and the murder of one of its executives. That didn’t stop
UnitedHealth Group from increasing its annual returns to shareholders,
spending $9 billion
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on stock buybacks and $7.5 billion in dividends.

Cigna, which requested a 29 percent
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average premium rate increase for individual ACA plans in Colorado, is
rebounding after a weak 2024, generating $1.3 billion
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in profits in the first quarter of 2025 after putting up a $277
million loss at the same time last year. Despite its troubles last
year, Cigna generated $3 billion in profits and spent a whopping $7
billion
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on stock buybacks, along with $1.5 billion on dividends.

Meanwhile, one of the biggest insurers in the country has given up on
the ACA marketplace entirely. CVS Health, which acquired
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Aetna in 2018, said the insurer will exit the marketplace
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next year, leaving approximately 1 million people in 17 states
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to find new coverage.

_The Lever_ is a nonpartisan, reader-supported investigative news
outlet that holds accountable the people and corporations manipulating
the levers of power. The organization was founded in 2020 by David
Sirota, an award-winning journalist and Oscar-nominated writer who
served as the presidential campaign speechwriter for Bernie Sanders.

* Healthcare
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* health insurance
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* corporate profits
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