UnitedHealthcare has proposed an average 7.9% premium increase for Maryland residents enrolled in small market plans. The request covers the main company and three subsidiaries: Optum Choice, MAMSI Life and Health Insurance Company, and UnitedHealthcare Mid-Atlantic.
The company submitted the proposed increase to the Maryland Insurance Administration, which will decide on the filing. The mid-year request would add to the 9.4% increase regulators approved last October.
Together, the changes would bring the average premium increase to 17.4% for the fiscal year. More than 26,000 Marylanders would feel the rate adjustment.
Daniel Akier, an actuary at UnitedHealth Group, told regulators higher medical costs and heavier use of care drove the request. He pointed to doctor visits and several service categories putting pressure on claims costs.
Akier said acute care costs have risen sharply. He also cited outpatient services, including lab pathology, radiology, infusion, and radiation therapy.
Consumer advocates pushed back. Stephanie Klapper, deputy director of the Maryland Citizens’ Health Initiative, said the increase would hurt Maryland residents and small businesses paying for employee coverage.
Klapper said Maryland needs to help small businesses keep workers insured, healthy, and productive. High premiums remain a major barrier, she said.
The request follows MIA’s approval of an average 13.4% increase for all Affordable Care Act marketplace health plans starting in 2026. Insurers have tied that increase to Congress and the Trump administration ending the federal premium tax credit in the latest spending bill.
State and federal officials have not asked insurers to absorb the lost subsidy support. The cost pressure, then, moves toward consumers and employers.
UnitedHealthcare reported $14.4 bn in profits in 2024. CEO Stephen Hemsley receives $1 mn a year, plus $60 mn in non-qualified stock options.
