Dramatic health insurance rate drop possible next year

Rates for people buying their own health insurance could drop dramatically in 2020 — but only if the federal government green-lights a new program aimed at cutting those costs.

Insurance rates on the state’s individual market could decrease for the first time in years, by an average of 18.2% next year. That’s a far cry from the drumbeat of steep rate hikes that came to be expected as Capitol Hill wrestled over the Affordable Care Act.