Health insurance is life or death for Elizabeth Hamblin’s family.

Her husband, Mark, has Type I diabetes. So do their two children. All three would die in a matter of days without a steady supply of insulin, she said.

Insurance has allowed them to pay the bills. But the price tag for care is expected to go up.

Bob Carey, superintendent of the Maine Bureau of Insurance. Contributed photo

“I don’t know if I can afford to keep my family’s insurance,” Hamblin told Maine Superintendent of Insurance Bob Carey Friday morning. “But I can’t afford not to.”

The Buxton resident was one of nearly 40 people who spoke at the Maine Bureau of Insurance’s online public forum on the proposed rate increases that Carey has described as “eye-popping.” If his team approves the rates, the more than 110,000 Mainers who get health coverage through the individual and small-group employer market would see their monthly premiums jump by an average of more than 20%.

Combined with the pending expiration of the enhanced premium health tax credits, which have saved 50,000 qualifying Maine residents an average of nearly $180 per month since they were created in 2021, the rate hikes could force families like Hamblin’s to make major sacrifices in order to pay for vital care, according to those who spoke Friday.

The forum began with brief presentations from Carey and from the five companies that operate in Maine’s individual and small-group employer markets, all of which focused on the rate-setting process and the reasons why insurers are proposing higher premiums next year.

One major factor is the rising cost of medical care, driven in part by increased demand for expensive drugs like Ozempic and other GLP-1s, said Kevin Lewis, president and CEO of Community Health Options.

“The technology in some of these innovations have resulted in improvements in the therapy and treatments, but it also has led to significantly increased costs,” Lewis said. The company has proposed rate increases of 30% for customers in the individual market and 25% for those in the small-group employer market.

Uncertainty around the elimination of the enhanced premium health tax credits is also responsible for driving up the proposed rates, said Jeff Yuan, the co-founder of Mending, an insurer formerly known as Taro Health.

Without the credits to keep the cost of their premiums affordable, some younger and healthier Mainers will likely decide that they’re better off skipping insurance altogether, he said. That will leave the pool of insured people older, sicker and more expensive to treat on average, driving up costs for everyone.

Mending’s proposed rate increases of 32% are the highest of the insurers who operate in the state. UnitedHealthcare’s are the lowest at about 8%. The Maine Bureau of Insurance must evaluate and approve each rate individually based on historical data and changing health care costs.

Many of those who testified on Friday dismissed the idea that insurers’ hands are tied by circumstances outside their control.

“I think the fact that health insurance companies want to raise their rates by so much is laughable,” said Somerset County resident Megan Black. “There’s no reason they need to get richer while the rest of us suffer under the weight of their greed.”

Black cited a recent earnings report from Elevance Health, the company that operates Anthem insurance plans, which showed a net profit of $3.9 billion through the first six months of 2025.

Several other speakers echoed the idea that insurers and their shareholders should eat some or all of Maine’s rising medical costs.

“I’m not in favor of risking my health to subsidize the lifestyles of people who have so much wealth it can only be measured on a spreadsheet,” said Kristin Mason, a self-employed mother of two in Franklin County.

The public’s frustration with health insurance companies and the executives who run them gained significant media attention last winter after Luigi Mangione allegedly shot and killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel. Mangione has pleaded not guilty to murder charges.

WIDE-RANGING RAMIFICATIONS

Many talked about the steps they have already taken or will have to consider taking in order to pay for health care next year, including dipping into their retirement savings, selling their homes, changing careers or opting not to have children.

Some who are healthy enough that they might not need expensive care said they are considering downgrading their plans or forgoing coverage altogether. Others said they simply don’t know what they’ll do.

Monica McCarthy said she and her husband, who currently pay $360 a month for their Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield plan, could face a $2,500 monthly premium next year if they lose their enhanced premium tax credits and the proposed rates hikes get approved.

“We’ve worked tremendously hard for decades for what we have,” said McCarthy, who along wither her husband is self-employed and nearing retirement age. “This is a catastrophe for households like mine.”

Though the Maine Bureau of Insurance has limited power to reject rates that meet the state’s statutory guidelines, Carey emphasized at the end of Friday’s meeting that the new proposals have not yet been finalized. The bureau is expected to set final rates by the end of the month.

He encouraged Mainers to “implore” the state’s congressional delegation to extend the enhanced premium tax credits.

“It would have a meaningful difference in Maine people’s lives,” he said. “That’s an issue that could be rectified at the federal level.”

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