Boston, MA - June 4, 2010 - Neighborhood Health Plan (NHP) today announced that it has reached a settlement with the Division of Insurance (DOI) regarding its small group base rates. The agreement applies to premiums for new and renewal business for the annual contract periods from June 1 through December 31.
The settlement is a result of a legal complaint originally filed by the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans (MAHP) in April. Neighborhood Health Plan is one of several Massachusetts-based health plans named in the filing. On April 1, the DOI disapproved 235 of 274 base rate changes filed by health plans. Eight of the 19 filings made by Neighborhood Health Plan at that time were disapproved, affecting approximately 4,000 of NHP commercial members during the months of April and May.
Originally, NHP's blended rates across all products submitted in the April 1 filing averaged approximately 9%. Neighborhood Health Plan settled with the DOI at an overall blended rate of 7.7% across the submitted products for small groups.
"We are pleased to have reached a settlement with the Division of Insurance on this matter," said Deborah C. Enos, President and CEO of Neighborhood Health Plan. "Neighborhood Health Plan has long been an active advocate for solutions that address the health care cost issue. We believe this settlement works financially for NHP and helps us focus on what matters to NHP most, which is ensuring high quality health care services for all our members and the communities we serve."
Neighborhood Health Plan serves more than 200,000 members throughout Massachusetts with three major lines of business. Approximately 30,000 are commercially insured members, and more than 170,000 are government-funded Medicaid or Commonwealth Care members.
About Neighborhood Health Plan
Neighborhood Health Plan (NHP) is a not-for-profit health insurer serving more than 200,000 members across Massachusetts, offering a wide array of competitive Medicaid and commercial products. Working in partnership with community health centers and other community-responsive providers, NHP focuses on offering members access to care from over 2,800 primary care physicians and over 10,400 specialists in over 300 primary care locations throughout Massachusetts. Central to Neighborhood Health Plan's mission, we place special emphasis on serving culturally diverse, traditionally underserved, and vulnerable populations.