Mark Sanchez: They can expect to pay more. I know, what a shock. Healthcare costs are going up. That's been the story for what, 30 plus years and it will continue to be the story for well into the future. And this is a story I wrote last week. You know, a month or two ago, we talked about premium increases for the small group market. This is for employers with people, 50 employees and less, and they're going to get hit next year in 2026 with some pretty stiff rate increases that are going to average about 11.2% statewide across all the carriers in the small group market. And now, recently, we've seen the filing of the health insurance carriers for individual plans. These are the health insurance policies that individuals buy on their own outside of their employment. A lot of times you have folks who are self-employed or their sole proprietorships, they're buying individual coverage. And the rate increases for 2026 for the individual market are a little bit worse. We're talking a 16.8% average statewide increase. Now there's a caveat there, which is Congress has not renewed some federal subsidies under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. Those subsidies and those cost sharing reductions expire at the end of 2025. So, the rates are kind of predicated on that. And each of the health plans and insurance companies filed two sets of rate proposals. One, should congress renew these subsidies. One, without. For instance, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan filed for an 18.2% hike in the individual health insurance market, and these are for policies that would renew January 1. The proposals without the federal cost sharing reduction, if those subsidies get renewed, then Blue Cross's proposed increase, a little better, not good, but a little better of 14.5%. The HMO subsidiary Blue Care Network, same way, 8.3% with the cost sharing reduction, 16.3% increase without. Priority health as well. It's looking at some good size increases, but a little comparatively better than the Blues. It's about a 10% rate increase in the individual market for 2026 with the federal cost sharing reductions and 14.4% without. Now, as we talked about here after the filing in May of the small group increases, what's driving this? The same thing. We've got higher utilization rates, people using more healthcare. We have an aging population that needs more healthcare. We've got the high-cost specialty prescription drugs, you know, all those issues combined are driving up that utilization rate, driving up costs. That's all reflected in the rate proposals for 2026.
Patrick Center: You had mentioned some of the government funding being stripped away. Are we expecting to see more of this over time?
Mark Sanchez: Uh, probably. Folks I've talked to are not hopeful that Congress would renew this. We are seeing federal government under the Trump administration pull back funding for a lot of things and it's no secret that the Republicans that can control Congress are not a fan of the Affordable Care Act and some of these subsidies. So that's an issue that, you know, a lot of folks are not, not hopeful that Congress will act. Therefore, you're going to get these larger rate increases for the individual policies.
Patrick Center: We're talking with Crain's Grand Rapids Business staff writer, Mark Sanchez, the Catholic diocese is proposing to close four West Michigan churches, but that is opening up land for development and in particular, home construction.
Mark Sanchez: Yeah, which is of course significantly needed here in this marketplace, as well as across the state and across the country. In the Catholic Diocese of Grand Rapids, it's going to close and sell four churches in West Michigan. That's Saints Peter and Paul Church in Grand Rapids, Mary, Queen of Apostles in Sand Lake, St. Thomas, the Apostle Church in Muskegon, and Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church in Shelby. Now the diocese has 79 parishes and 31 Catholic schools in 11 counties here in West Michigan. That's the Catholic Diocese of Grand Rapids. And there are just a whole number of issues coming together here to drive this and part of it is not enough priests out there to serve these parishes and serve these churches. So, the diocese is going through this process. It's intending to sell these properties and eventually perhaps they can come open for redevelopment into new uses.
Patrick Center: There is a but here and that is that the diocese sees potential in population growth in Ottawa County to construct two new churches.
Mark Sanchez: In most stories, Patrick, there's always a however. And this is a good however for the diocese here in Grand Rapids. The diocese indicate that it expects to build two new churches in Ottawa County in West Olive, which is between Zeeland and Hudsonville, and it could go up as well as location and around the Hudsonville area. And you're right, Ottawa County is a growing population, of course, so is Kent County, but it's a fast-growing county. And there's a need that the diocese has identified to build a couple of new churches over there, possibly in the future.
Patrick Center: We'll stick with growing populations. And in this case, it's growing the student body at Western Michigan university in Kalamazoo. There's a new president there and he is going to go out on a listening tour to find out what people want on campus.
Mark Sanchez: Yeah, this is had a chance last week to sit down with Russ Kavalhuna. He's the new president took over July 1 at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. He is a Southwest Michigan native. He is a 2001 Western Michigan graduate. He's got a degree in aviation sciences. Worked for a period as a commercial airlines pilot, and then later came back to Western Michigan, ran the…who was director of flight operations of the aviation schools there in Kalamazoo. And now he'll tell you he's coming back home for the third time. He's the new president. He succeeded Edward Montgomery, who retired at Western Michigan University after eight years as president. And talking to Russ Kavalhuna last week, he really talked about, he's settling into the position. He knows the market, he's certainly well aware of the university and how it affected him and his direction in life. But he talked about there's no big issue. There's no fire to put out as he comes into the job. So, his goal is really, primarily in the early months of his administration, to just listen and learn. He's going out, he's met here in Grand Rapids with a group of education, public and school and business leaders here in town and talked about his vision for the university. And hey, come on down, have your kids come to the university and come to college here. And he's making these tours around Southwest Michigan over the next several months, probably into early next year, just as he says, to listen and to learn. To learn what's on people's mind. What's working at Western Michigan? What's not working? How can we do better? What do you as employers need from us? What do you need in the graduates that Western Michigan puts out? So that's kind of going to dominate his early term. And he talked about just, you know, again, coming home and being there and how this is really just the right fit for him. He previously ran Henry Ford College over in Dearborn. We'll see how this tenure goes, you know, with Mr. Montgomery, there's a little rockiness there during his eight years at Western Michigan. Got a couple of no confidence votes by the faculty union. And I asked Russ Kavalhuna about that. He says he wants to go into this position with a clean slate. He says we can have disagreements, but let's talk to one another and just be open and honest and work through issues. So, there's a, there's a new university leader and he takes over at a time when Western Michigan is kind of last year, reversed an 11-year decline in enrollment. It's got record research funding. It's got some campus upgrades it's made and it's going forward and it's going forward with a new leader.
Patrick Center: Is there an area that he sees that is the one thing that makes Western unique compared to all of its competitors in the Midwest?
Mark Sanchez: Basically, his plan, and when you talk about planning for the future, there's a strategic plan in place, but he needs to learn what are the things that, you know, we always ask the new leaders when they're coming in, what's next? What's the priorities? But he's really focusing on, again, just repeating that the learning and then formulating the plan on what to do going forward.
Patrick Center: Crain’s Grand Rapids Business staff writer Mark Sanchez. Thank you so much.
Mark Sanchez: Thank you, Patrick.