Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, the state’s largest insurer, said Wednesday that if President Trump had not cut off insurer payments, it would be requesting barely any increase in premiums in its Obamacare plans.
The rate increase “would have been near zero” if the payments had continued, the company said.
Instead, rates are expected to rise by an average of 14.1 percent for mid-level plans, with Blue Cross continuing to sell plans in every county in the state.
Trump said last week that he was ending the payments and a bipartisan deal in Congress to reinstate them has stalled, with some Republicans saying that they are a “bailout” to insurers. The funds help lower out-of-pocket costs for low-income people who buy Obamacare plans.
Low-income customers will still receive the discounts because insurers are funding them through raising premiums, much of which are paid for by the federal government through subsidies. But customers in the individual market, meaning those who don’t get insurance through their employer or government and who buy their plans on and off the Obamacare exchanges, who earn more than $48,240 for an individual or $98,400 for a family of four will personally pay premium increases if they buy the plans.
Rep. Robert Pittenger, R-N.C., cast doubt on Blue Cross’s claim about its projected costs in a statement to the Associated Press.
“Blue Cross has raised Obamacare premiums every year,” Pittenger said. “Nonsense on the rhetoric from Blue Cross.”
States vary in terms of how they are managing Trump’s decision to cut off payments, which are expected to reach $9 billion in 2017. Some states are raising premiums only on mid-level plans, known as silver plans, while others are raising them only for people who buy coverage in the exchanges or distributing costs across all tiered plans. A Congressional Budget Office report projected that rates of silver plans would rise by an average of 20 percent more than they otherwise would if the payments were not made.
Blue Cross had said in May that it would be requesting rate increases of 22.9 percent, but lowered its formal request in August, saying that the marketplace was becoming more stable.
North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein is one of 18 Democratic state attorneys general who filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration’s decision last week to end the subsidy payments.
Trump said in a formal statement that he was ending the payments because they had been ruled illegal by a judge and has said publicly that he did so to force Congress to arrive at a deal on healthcare.
