{"id":180381,"date":"2018-09-07T05:51:28","date_gmt":"2018-09-07T09:51:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=180381"},"modified":"2018-09-07T05:51:28","modified_gmt":"2018-09-07T09:51:28","slug":"ap-exclusive-data-show-big-let-obamacare-premiums","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/09\/07\/ap-exclusive-data-show-big-let-obamacare-premiums\/","title":{"rendered":"AP Exclusive: Data show big let up in ‘Obamacare’ premiums"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cVoters won’t think that the Trump threat to the ACA has passed at all, unless Democrats get at least the House in 2018.\u201d (File Photo<\/a>: Marc Nozell\/ Flickr<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Millions of people covered under the Affordable Care Act will see only modest premium increases next year, and some will get a price cut. That’s the conclusion from an exclusive analysis of the besieged but resilient program, which still sparks deep divisions heading into this year’s midterm elections.<\/p>\n

The consulting firm Avalere Health and The Associated Press crunched available state data and found that \u201cObamacare’s\u201d health insurance marketplaces seem to be stabilizing after two years of sharp premium hikes. And the exodus of insurers from the program has halted, even reversed somewhat, with more consumer choices for 2019.<\/p>\n

The analysis found a 3.6 per cent average increase in proposed or approved premiums across 47 states and Washington, D.C., for 2019. This year the average increase nationally was about 30 per cent. The average total premium for an individual covered under the health law is now close to $600 a month before subsidies.<\/p>\n

For next year, premiums are expected either to drop or increase by less than 10 per cent in 41 states with about 9 million customers. Eleven of those states are expected to see a drop in average premiums. In six other states, plus Washington, D.C., premiums are projected to rise between 10 per cent and 18 per cent.<\/p>\n

Insurers are also starting to come back. Nineteen states will either see new insurers enter or current ones expand into more areas. There are no \u201cbare\u201d counties lacking a willing insurer.<\/p>\n

Even so, Chris Sloan, an Avalere director, says, \u201cThis is still a market that’s unaffordable for many people who aren’t eligible for subsidies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nearly 9 in 10 ACA customers get government subsidies based on income, shielding most from premium increases. But people with higher incomes, who don’t qualify for financial aid, have dropped out in droves.<\/p>\n

It’s too early to say if the ACA’s turnabout will be fleeting or a more permanent shift. Either way, next year’s numbers are at odds with the political rhetoric around the ACA, still heated even after President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans failed to repeal the law last year.<\/p>\n

Trump regularly calls \u201cObamacare\u201d a \u201cdisaster\u201d and time again has declared it \u201cdead.\u201d The GOP tax-cut bill repealed the ACA requirement that Americans have health insurance or risk fines, effective next year. But other key elements remain, including subsidies and protection for people with pre-existing conditions. Democrats, meanwhile, accuse Trump of \u201csabotage,\u201d driving up premiums and threatening coverage.<\/p>\n

The moderating market trend \u201ctakes the issue away from Republican candidates\u201d in the midterm elections, said Mark Hall, a health law and policy expert at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. \u201cPart of the mess is now their fault, and the facts really don’t support the narrative that things are getting worse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Market stability also appears to undercut Democrats’ charge that Trump is undermining the program. But Democrats disagree, saying the ACA is in danger while Republicans control Washington, and that premiums would have been even lower but for the administration’s hostility.<\/p>\n

\u201cVoters won’t think that the Trump threat to the ACA has passed at all, unless Democrats get at least the House in 2018,\u201d said Bill Carrick, a strategist for Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., whose re-election ads emphasize her support for the health law.<\/p>\n

As if seconding Democrats’ argument, the Trump administration has said it won’t defend the ACA’s protections for pre-existing conditions in a federal case in Texas that could go to the Supreme Court. A new Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that Americans regardless of partisan identification said those protections should remain the law of the land.<\/p>\n

In solidly Republican Arkansas, Democratic state legislator and cancer survivor Clarke Tucker is using the ACA in his campaign to try to flip a U.S. House seat from red to blue. Tucker, 37, says part of what made him want to run is the House vote to repeal the ACA last year and images of Trump and GOP lawmakers celebrating at the White House.<\/p>\n

Business analysts say the relatively good news for 2019 is partly the result of previous premium increases, which allowed insurers to return to profitability after losing hundreds of millions of dollars.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can price better, and they can manage this population better, which is why they can actually make some money,\u201d said Deep Banerjee of Standard & Poor’s.<\/p>\n

Repeal of the ACA’s requirement to carry insurance doesn’t seem to have had a major impact yet, but Banerjee said there’s \u201ca cloud of uncertainty\u201d around the Trump administration’s potential policy shifts. Yet some administration actions have also helped settle the markets, such as continuing a premium stabilization program.<\/p>\n

April Box of Spokane Valley, Washington, lives in a state where premiums could rise substantially since insurers have proposed an 18 per cent increase. In states expecting double-digit increases, the reasons reflect local market conditions. Proposed increases may ultimately get revised downward.<\/p>\n

Box is self-employed as a personal advocate helping patients navigate the health care system. She has an ACA plan, but even with a subsidy her premiums are expensive and a high deductible means she’s essentially covered only for catastrophic illness.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m choosing not to go to the doctor, and I’m saying to myself I’m not sick enough to go to the doctors,\u201d Box said. \u201cWe need to figure out how to make it better and lower the price.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now in her 50s, Box was born with dislocated hips. She worries she could be uninsurable if insurers are allowed to go back to denying coverage for pre-existing conditions. She might need another hip surgery.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt needs to be a level playing field for everybody,\u201d said Box. \u201cWe need to have universal coverage \u2014 that is really the only answer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tennessee is a prime example of the ACA’s flipped fortunes.<\/p>\n

Last year, the state struggled to secure at least one insurer in every county. But approved rates for 2019 reflect an 11 per cent average decrease. Two new insurers \u2014 Bright Health and Celtic\u2014 have entered its marketplace, and two others \u2014Cigna and Oscar\u2014 will expand into new counties.<\/p>\n

Tennessee Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander called that a \u201cwelcome step,\u201d but argued rates could have been even lower if congressional Democrats had supported a market stabilization bill. Democrats blame Republicans for the failure.<\/p>\n

To calculate premium changes, Avalere and The Associated Press used proposed overall individual marketplace rate filings for 34 states and D.C., and final rates for 13 states that have already approved them. Data was not available for Massachusetts, Maryland and Alabama. The average rate change calculations include both on-exchange and off-exchange plans that comply with ACA requirements. The government isn’t expected to release final national figures until later this fall.<\/p>\n

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WASHINGTON \u2014 Millions of people covered under the Affordable Care Act will see only modest premium increases next year, and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":85048,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-180381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-w","mauthors-meghan-hoyer","mauthors-ricardo-alonso-zaldivar","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}