You asked for an update of OLR Report 2011-R-0242 to reflect the Department of Social Services (DSS)' recent announcement that it is raising the Charter Oak Health Plan (COHP) premiums on September 1, 2011.

In the above referenced OLR report, we created a table showing (1) how state premium assistance for individuals with incomes under 300% of the federal poverty level (those who had enrolled in the program before June 1, 2010) was reduced per PA 11-44 and (2) the new, higher subsidized and unsubsidized premium amount enrollees would have to pay beginning September 1, 2011. We based the second number on information we found on the Charter Oak website from June 2010 and June 24, 2011. In the report, we assumed (and DSS verified) that the full $307 premium amount would not be rising.

In early July, DSS announced at the Council on Medical Assistance Program Oversight's monthly meeting that it would be raising COHP premiums in September. Last week, the COHP notified program enrollees that starting September 1, 2011, the full premium amount will increase from $307 to $446 per month. This was not something that the legislature directed DSS to do. Rather, DSS made the decision based on “overall higher medical costs incurred by the program.”

While the existing enrollees who do not get state subsidies will have to pay the higher amount (as will new enrollees who do not qualify for the state's Pre-Existing Health Insurance Plan), enrollees who receive subsidies will also have to pay more, on top of the increased amount resulting from PA 11-44, which lowered the state subsidies.

Table 1 adds a column to Table 1 in OLR Report 2011-R-0242 to show how the increased full premium affects all COHP enrollees.

Table 1: Charter Oak Cost Sharing for a One-Person Household

Source: OLR analysis using COHP website information from June 2010, June 2011, and July 2011; DSS

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