Insurer Highmark requests double-digit rate increases in Delaware

Health insurer Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield on Wednesday requested double-digit rate increases for the plans it sells on the Obamacare exchange in Delaware, adding to the growing chorus of insurers that say their rate requests would be lower if they received more certainty from the Trump administration.

Highmark requested rate increases of 33.6 percent to sell plans on the exchange in the state, a proposal that must be approved by the Delaware Department of Insurance. The company assumes in its request that the individual mandate obligating people to buy health insurance or pay a fine will not be in place and that federal payments to insurers, called cost-sharing reduction subsidies, will not be paid.