NEW YORK – In rate-filing documents announced earlier this week, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island, the state’s largest health-insurance carrier, said that its average rates for small businesses will rise 15% next year, while those for individuals will increase roughly 18%, the Wall Street Journal reports. 

The corporate hike is tied to the federal health-care overhaul, while the one for individuals would have been similar without the federal law. Rhode Island actually had many market rules in place that mirrored provisions in the federal law, minimizing the law’s impact.

In its filing, the Rhode Island carrier said its 14.7% requested average rate increase for small businesses was 40% higher than without the health law, a reflection of rising medical costs as well as taxes and fees associated with the law. 

The 18% projected increase for individual consumers included many of the same factors, though it would have been roughly the same without the law, with increases tied to the law that were offset by provisions aimed at minimizing risks to insurers.