Washington state’s insurance regulator approved an average 13.8 percent increase for Obamacare plans for 2019, bashing the Trump administration for the hike.
The state approved seven Obamacare insurers on Wednesday to sell plans on the law’s exchanges for 2019, with an average rate increase of 13.8 percent. The final rate is below the proposed rate request from the insurers earlier this year of 19.8 percent.
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The state’s insurance commissioner said that the individual market, which is used by people who don’t get insurance through their jobs and includes Obamacare’s insurance exchanges, is still very vulnerable.
“We’re doing what we can to hold down costs, but it’s a struggle,” said commissioner Mike Kriedler in a statement. “Insurers need stability and we’re still facing inaction at the federal level as well as targeted hits on the Affordable Care Act that increase the uncertainty.”
Washington is the latest state to bash the Trump administration for rising Obamacare rates.
Several states and insurers have said the repeal of the individual mandate penalty starting in 2019 and the administration’s regulations to expand access to cheaper health plans with fewer benefits could destabilize the exchanges and lead to higher premiums.
Insurers worry that the moves will cause younger people to flee the exchanges either for the cheaper plans or because they no longer have to worry about the mandate for not having insurance. Such an exodus would cause Obamacare’s risk pools to have a sicker population with higher claims costs and therefore increased prices to cover those claims.
However, several states have also announced rate declines for the 2019 coverage year. Minnesota insurers sought a decline of an average five percent after the state installed a reinsurance program to help prop up insurers.
The rate announcements have become political fodder for Democrats and pro-Obamacare groups who seek to blame Republicans for the high prices. Democrats have zeroed in on healthcare as a major issue ahead of the 2018 midterm elections after the GOP’s unpopular attempt to repeal Obamacare last year failed.
