Maryland is Working to Lower Costs

Maryland will continue to pursue all necessary actions to reduce health care costs and protect consumers from rising insurance premiums.

The Maryland Insurance Administration will continue its rigorous review of health insurance rates and work with state partners to identify opportunities to strengthen Maryland's health insurance market, increase affordability and protect access to coverage.

“Maryland cannot control federal decisions, but we can control how we respond to them,” said Commissioner Grant. “We will continue working with Governor Moore, the General Assembly, the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange and everyone across the health care system to use every tool at our disposal to drive costs down and protect Maryland residents.”

Maryland is working toward a Total Cost of Care Target to help bend the health care cost growth for all payers, including commercial payers, as a part of the state’s participation in the AHEAD Model.  Maryland also has a Prescription Drug Affordability Board which has voted to apply its first upper payment limits to two prescription drugs.

Maryland has a long history in protecting health insurance consumers from higher costs. Maryland’s rates in the individual market remain low compared with the rest of the nation because of the continued effectiveness of the state’s 1332 State Innovation Waiver in stabilizing the market. The 1332 waiver, which allowed Maryland to establish a state-backed reinsurance program that helped lower premiums, is approved by the federal U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) through 2028. The approved 2027 rates are comparable to the pre-waiver 2018 rates, and the reinsurance program continues to keep rates 30% to 35% lower than they would be without it.