Health law has little impact on premiums in first rate filing

{mosads}Beginning in 2014, insurers will have to cover people with preexisting conditions, and there will be limits on how much they can vary individual premiums based on age, smoking habits and other factors. 

Vermont, the first state where insurers have filed their rates for 2014, doesn’t seem to at risk for rate shock. Officials from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont told the Journal they had only made slight adjustments to their plans in the state.

Vermont, though, already has relatively rigorous requirements for insurance plans, similar to the new rules in the Affordable Care Act. So even though the healthcare law didn’t have much of an impact in the state, it could still cause premiums to rise in states with more lax requirements.