Department of Health and Human Services officials touted a report Wednesday that shows 82 percent of consumers shopping in North Carolina’s Obamacare exchanges will likely see the premiums they pay go up by a maximum of $4 per month even if insurers raise rates by as much as 25 percent.
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This year, about 25 percent of exchange customers in IL – almost 84,000 people – didn’t receive tax credits. “Even in a scenario where all plans saw double-digit rate increases, the vast majority of consumers would continue to have affordable options”. Health plans have also criticized Congress for cutting funding to programs that were meant to offset their financial losses on the exchange. By contrast, Cigna and Humana are threatening to reduce their footprints or withdraw from the market altogether, she said.
Those numbers were released Wednesday as President Barack Obama’s administration tries to calm fears about rising health care costs and fewer providers established by Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
An Aug. 19 analysis conducted by the health care consulting firm Avalere Health found that more than a quarter of Texas’ 26 federally designated geographic areas could have just one insurance carrier offering plans on the exchange in 2017.
“I would characterize the exchange market in Tennessee as very near collapse. and that all of our efforts are really focused on making sure we have as many [insurance policy] writers in the area as possible”, McPeak told The Tennessean newspaper. “We have a vibrant marketplace where folks can come and look and shop”.
Prior to the Affordable Care Act, it was nearly impossible to shop around for health insurance.
In a statement, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner blamed “major structural flaws in the Affordable Care Act” for the higher rates.
Federal officials said, however, many who shop in the exchange are eligible for tax credits that may offset some of the price increases.
Last year, 231,400 Tennesseans signed up for marketplace plans under ObamaCare among more than 13 million persons who enrolled in marketplace plans across the country.
McPeak said the rate requests sought by the three health insurers, although at record high levels, were justified because each of the companies was paying out more in medical claims than they took in from premiums, not even counting their own sales, administrative and tax expenses.
McPeak said she employed independent actuaries to evaluate the company rate filings and she personally met and discussed the rate requests with top company officials from Cigna and Humana after those companies almost doubled their original rate increase request given to the state only two months ago. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., who said Tuesday that Obamacare “cannot be allowed to continue”.
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“They’ll sit somewhere around 10 percent”, Pearson said.
