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The first glimpse of what health-insurance companies plan to charge for Obamacare plans next year suggests there’s no relief ahead for consumers saddled with high premiums. Several insurers in Maryland and Virginia are seeking double-digit percentage increases in monthly costs for individual medical plans in 2019. The largest increases are being sought by CareFirst, which wants to nearly double the amount it charges on average for one coverage option in Maryland, and raise the cost of another in Virginia by 64 percent. (Tozzi, 5/7)

Maryland and Virginia are the first states to announce the rates filed by insurance companies for 2019 plans. The requests, though not final, offer an early look at what other insurers may be planning across the country. In Maryland, the two insurers selling individual insurance plans on the ACA marketplace are asking for an average rate increase of about 30% for 2019 coverage. That would amount to an average monthly premium of about $592 per member, compared with $449 per month in 2018. Nearly 212,000 people are insured in individual plans on and off the exchange in Maryland this year. (Livingston, 5/7)

Insurers are proposing double-digit premium increases in Maryland's individual-health-plan market, a consequence of what the state’s health insurance commissioner called a “death spiral. ”CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield requested an 18.5 percent increase on the HMO plans used by the vast majority of its individual-plan members — and a whopping, 91.4 percent increase on its PPO plans. Kaiser Permanente requested a 37.4 percent increase on its HMO plans. The average rate increase requested, across insurers and plans, was 30 percent. (Johnson, 5/7)

State officials plan to ask the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for permission to establish a reinsurance program that would create a pot of money for insurers to cover the most expensive claims. In a bipartisan effort to preserve the expansion of health insurance in Maryland and rein in rising costs, the General Assembly passed legislation this spring with support from Gov. Larry Hogan opening the door for the effort. (McDaniels, 5/7)

Insurers have said a number of policies being promoted by the Trump administration are to blame for rising premiums and the departure of healthy people from the risk pool, including the repeal of ObamaCare’s individual mandate penalty. The administration also made it easier for insurers to sell cheaper, skimpier plans. (Weixel, 5/7)

Kaiser Health News: How The Farm Bill Could Erode Part Of The ACA

Some Republican lawmakers continue to try to work around the federal health law’s requirements. That strategy can crop up in surprising places. Like the farm bill. Tucked deep in the House version of the massive bill — amid crop subsidies and food assistance programs — is a provision that supporters say could help provide farmers with cheaper, but likely less comprehensive, health insurance than plans offered through the Affordable Care Act. It calls for $65 million in loans and grants administered by the Department of Agriculture to help organizations establish agricultural-related “association” type health plans. (Appleby, 5/8)