One year after commercial health insurers sought the steepest annual commercial premium hikes in over a decade, the companies that insure one third of Rhode Islanders have barely tempered their requested increases.
The 2026 rate requests published by the Rhode Island Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner Monday would, if approved, increase residents’ annual premiums by 7.7% to 30.4%, depending on type of plan and insurer. The weighted averages are slightly less than the record premium hikes that insurers filed in 2025, but not by much. The 50,000 people who buy their own private insurance could see premiums spike 20.1%, on average, compared with the 23.8% requested last year.
“It’s not a win,” Health Insurance Commissioner Cory King said in an interview Monday. “Even though the average increases across the three markets are lower than what they requested last year, it’s still unsustainable.”
How to comment
The Rhode Island Office of the Health Insurance will hold a virtual town hall for community input on any and all insurer premium rate requests on Monday, July 20, from 4 to 5 p.m…