David Robinson reports in the Poughkeepsie Journal that health insurance providers in New York want to increase rates by 20.9 percent next year for individuals and 15.3 percent for small group plans. They blame rising prices for health care and drugs, and government taxes on insurance for the proposed increase. New York's Department of Financial Services, which regulates insurers, is looking at the rate proposals and will finalize the 2024 rates in August. In past years, the state agency often reduces the rate increases proposed by insurers. Last year, insurers requested 18.7 percent and 16.5 percent increases, but regulators approved average rate increases of just 9.7 percent for individuals and 7.9 percent for small group plans. The average rates for individual health care plans have gone up 31.4 percent since 2019, with an average yearly increase of about 6 percent. Read more about this story in the Poughkeepsie Journal.