ObamaCare premiums to rise by double digits in 2017
The Obama administration announced Monday that premiums under the Affordable Care Act will rise by double digits in 2017. A report from the Department of Health and Human Services predicted that premiums for a "midlevel benchmark plan will increase an average of 25 percent across the 39 states served by the federally run online market," The Associated Press reports, though some states may see much bigger price increases than others. Customers in Arizona, for example, will see a spike of 116 percent, AP notes.
Major national insurance carriers have also scaled back their participation in the ObamaCare exchange, which could leave about 20 percent of consumers with only one option of insurer; AP notes that the total number of insurers available on Healthcare.gov will drop from 232 to 167, a decrease of 28 percent.
The silver lining, however, is that the drastic premium hike shouldn't affect employer-provided plans, which constitute the coverage most workers rely on. Additionally, the Obama administration is emphasizing that taxpayer-provided subsidies should offset the increases for most consumers, though a DHHS spokeman did acknowledge "headline rates are generally rising faster than in previous years."
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