Illinois ‘Obamacare’ health insurance rates up significantly

The report noted that even a 25-percent across the board hike is “highly unrealistic”. Major insurers have left the IL exchange and Land of Lincoln Health is folding.

Cigna is entering the IL marketplace but has not yet said in which areas its exchange plans will be available.

This story has been corrected to show the statewide average increase of a typical benchmark plan is 43 percent, not 29 percent.

Still, high-profile defections, including plans by United Healthcare and Aetna to withdraw from marketplaces in OH and other states next year, have narrowed consumers’ choices.

A spokeswoman for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas said Tuesday the company had made “no final decisions” about its 2017 offerings.

“We are confident that the marketplace will continue to bring coverage to millions of people next year”, Wakana said.

Federal officials say some of the increases reflect the planned end of provisions in the law created to cushion insurers and that other shifts are predictable, as plans adjust to the law’s overhaul of insurance pricing to require it to be sold equally to all customers regardless of medical history or risk. Previous year that average was $900 and is expected to be $850 in 2017. But she said many Texans might not feel the effect of those increases because they will continue receiving federal subsidies – a pillar of the law meant to offset the cost of health care for many Americans. Oscar Insurance Corp., a tech-based startup funded by venture capital, also chose to exit markets in Texas and New Jersey. Also, when premiums rise faster than expected, more consumers qualify for and receive a tax credit.

This lack of competition in the marketplace isn’t just relegated to those counties. Earlier this year, Oxford Health Plans also announced it would stop selling ACA policies here. The health law’s pricing rules apply to nearly all individual health plans, regardless of whether they are sold through HealthCare.gov or independently.

“I think it’s important to step back and remembers what the health insurance market in the individual market was like before the Affordable Care Act where folks with preexisting conditions had no options”, said Dr. Mandy Cohen, chief of staff for the Centers on Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Health-care advocates throughout the state will have their work cut out for them in the upcoming enrollment season because more than 18,000 Mississippians who were enrolled in United Healthcare’s plan will have to select another plan in order to stay in the marketplace.

That led many companies to boost rates for this year. Ms. McPeak said it was unclear whether the costs are being driven by consumers who are sicker and have higher expenses than expected, or because consumers getting insured are using more health services. About 9 million people buy individual plans outside the exchanges, the Congressional Budget Office has estimated.

As insurance companies in Dane County and throughout the state and the country adjust to the realities of the Affordable Care Act exchange, or online marketplace, many are proposing double-digit rate increases for next year.

“The more we can educate on the front end, the longer they’ll stay with us”, Gilliard said. “Dean Health Plan values all our members, and we are committed to providing sustainable plan options and rates utilizing our integrated health delivery system”, spokeswoman Mary Carr Lee said.