SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Many New York health insurers who sell individual policies say they will need double-digit premium increases next year because of the Trump administration's repeal of Obamacare's individual mandate penalty.

Fourteen insurers serving the individual market have filed 2019 rate hike requests with the state Department of Financial Services averaging 24 percent.

Fidelis, one of the insurers serving Central New York, is asking for the highest increase, 38.6 percent.

Here are proposed 2019 rate increases for individual policies by other insurers serving Central New York: Excellus, 8.9 percent; MVP Health Plan, 6.5 percent, and CDPHP, 5.1 percent.

Obamacare required nearly all Americans to have health insurance or pay a penalty, which has been repealed by the Trump administration.

The repeal of the penalty is the biggest single justification offered by insurers for the increases, according to the state agency. Without the repeal, the weighted average increase request for New York insurers would have been 12.1 percent.

The individual mandate was designed to prevent dramatic rate increases by making sure the insurance pool had enough young, healthy people to offset older, sicker people with higher health care costs.

The New York Health Plan Association, an insurance industry trade group, said the proposed increases also reflect higher drug costs and prices charged by hospitals, doctors and other clinicians.

The state agency is expected to make a decision on the rate hike requests later this summer.

Insurers serving the state's small group market filed for increases averaging 7.5 percent.

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