Obamacare Premiums to Rise Double Digits in California for 2018
InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips
Obamacare premiums in California are going to increase by 12.5% for 2018 health insurance plans.
The increase in Obamacare premiums in California are due to a few factors. 7% of the increase comes from increases in providing care, 3% is a one-time tax adjustment and another 3% is due to uncertainty for the future of the Affordable Care Act. Some experts are surprised that premiums aren’t going up more next year.
Obamacare premiums going up are no surprise. The price for health insurance in California went up by 13% in 2017 and 5% over the two years prior. The increasing price of premiums comes as President Donald Trump and Republican Senators work to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. Anthem Inc (NYSE:ANTM) is also exiting most of the markets in the state next year.
Covered California is the state’s marketplace for health insurance through Obamacare. It currently provides health insurance to 1.5 million people. It has warned that plans to stop payments to insurance companies could result in an extra 12.4% surcharge for those on silver-tier plans, reports The Los Angeles Times.
Covered California currently has 650,000 customers that are on silver-tier plans. This makes it the most popular of the health insurance plans that are offered through Obamacare in the state. The extra surcharge will surpass income caps for may silver-tier customers, which means they won’t pay the full price for the plan. The goal here is to hit these caps, which will force the U.S. government to pay insurers to keep premiums low, The Sacramento Bee notes.
Obamacare exchanges will start offering health insurance plans for 2018 on Nov. 10, 2017. These markets will remain open until Jan. 31, 2018.
More From InvestorPlace
The opinions contained in this column are solely those of the writer.
Want to share your own views on money and politics? Drop us a line at letters@investorplace.com and we might reprint your views in our InvestorPolitics blog! Please include your name, city and state of residence. All letters submitted to this address will be considered for publication.
The post Obamacare Premiums to Rise Double Digits in California for 2018 appeared first on InvestorPlace.
