Jackson Free Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi's insurance commissioner has approved a rate increase of 43 percent, on average, for one of two health insurers selling policies on the health exchange created under the federal health care overhaul.

Commissioner Mike Chaney said Thursday he approved the increase for Kentucky-based Humana because actuaries project a sharp increase in costs and because he feared Humana would pull out of Mississippi. That would leave Mississippians in a broad swath of counties without anyone selling federally-subsidized insurance.

Chaney says he's approved a rate increase of roughly 7 percent on average for Magnolia Health, a unit of St. Louis-based Centene Corp.

UnitedHealth Group, which had been offering policies in all 82 counties, has announced it is leaving the state after 2016, potentially leaving the majority of counties with one subsidized insurer.