Axios

Only two health insurers sell Affordable Care Act plans on Connecticut's individual exchange, and premium rates could go up by a lot next year for the 86,000 people in the market. Anthem asked regulators for a 33.8% average rate hike to its 2018 individual plans, and ConnectiCare requested a 15.2% average increase. Both cited "increasing medical costs and greater demand for medical services."

Rates for policies sold off the exchange and for plans sold to small employers also could go up well above 10% on average. Connecticut's preliminary rates mirror the rate requests in Maryland last week, which were also high.

Our thought bubble: These are requested rates, not approved rates. But the Connecticut proposals assumed that the cost-sharing subsidies would be in place and that the individual mandate would be enforced — indicating health insurers are still recovering from underpricing their plans and are expecting more costly medical bills.

PhRMA, the pharmaceutical industry's primary lobbying group, is expected to institute new membership rules designed to force out smaller companies that don't invest in drug research, per Bloomberg.

The new rules: In order to remain a part of PhRMA, drug companies will have to spend at least $200 million per year on research over a three-year average. They'll also have to spend at least 10% of their annual global sales on research.

Why it matters: This is PhRMA's way of trying to get rid of smaller companies that mostly buy older drugs and jack up the prices. You might remember the controversy surrounding Marathon Pharmaceutical's choice earlier this year to charge $89,000 for a muscular dystrophy drug that cost less than $2,000 abroad.