Press Release: 2024-12-05

Statement from Lora Pellegrini, President and CEO of the MA Association of Health Plans On the Massachusetts Division of Insurance Information Sessions on Health Care Costs Impacting Premiums

CONTACT: Rob McLaughlin

(C) 617-538-3529

Tuesday, December 3, 2024



The Massachusetts Association of Health Plans (MAHP) and our member plans commend the

Division of Insurance for its proactive approach to increasing transparency and understanding around

the factors driving health insurance premium rates. These sessions are vital to fostering a deeper

understanding of the market dynamics impacting health care costs and their implications for

consumers, employers, and policymakers.

Over 30 state reports have identified provider and pharmaceutical prices as the primary drivers of

health care spending. In recent years, prices for inpatient and outpatient hospital-based care,

physician services, and prescription drugs have skyrocketed, challenging health plans’ ability to

constrain rates. In 2024 alone, medical costs increased by 6.6%, while pharmacy costs increased by

11.8%, well above the state’s 3.6% health care cost growth benchmark. While providers and the

pharmaceutical industry are emboldened to ignore the benchmark, it is these very increases that drive

higher health plan premium rates.

Health plans cannot fix the health insurance affordability challenge alone. Providers, including

hospitals and the pharmaceutical industry, must be held accountable for their contributions to health

care spending. We are optimistic that these DOI sessions will shed light on the difficulties health

plans face in delivering affordable coverage to residents of the Commonwealth. We are hopeful that

at the conclusion of these information sessions lawmakers will equip health plans with important

tools, like those successfully implemented in other states, that are necessary to constrain premium

growth.