DOVER, Del. (WBOC/AP)- Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield of Delaware is seeking a rate increase of 33.6 percent for covering individuals under the Affordable Care Act.



State insurance regulators said Wednesday that the requested rate increase assumes that current cost-sharing subsidies and a federal mandate requiring people to have health insurance will not be in place next year.

“Highmark’s proposed rate increase reflects the fact that the federal government could cut funding for the ACA by discontinuing cost-sharing reduction subsidies,” said Delaware Insurance Commissioner Trinidad Navarro. “Cost-sharing reduction subsidies are passed on to insurers to assist lower income individuals and families. In addition, it is unclear whether the ACA individual mandate will be enforced next year. If the federal government fails to live up to its obligations under the law, insurers will likely continue to exit the Marketplace.”

Highmark's rate request comes after Aetna, which covers almost 12,000 Delawareans under the ACA, announced last month that it is pulling out of Delaware health insurance exchange.



Aetna's decision leaves Highmark, which has most of the individual market share in Delaware, as the only insurer providing coverage on the state's health insurance exchange, which serves approximately 27,000 Delawareans.



Regulators last year approved average rate increases in the individual market of 32.5 percent for Highmark and about 23 percent for Aetna.