Obamacare insurance plans are more expensive on average than last year, although fewer consumers are seeing price increases in the most popular mid-level plans.
A week into enrollment through healthcare.gov and the state-run insurance marketplaces, independent analysts are finding that insurers have raised premiums more than they did last year. While there is significant variation by county and state, the cost of plans across every price tier has jumped by double digits.
A new analysis from the McKinsey Center for U.S. Health System Reform finds that average premiums have increased by 13 percent for bronze plans, 11 percent for silver plans, 15 percent for gold plans and 12 percent for platinum plans. Last year, price increases were more moderate, increasing between 7 and 10 percent depending on the plan tier.
The increases have led the Obama administration, which is eager to persuade more Americans to sign up, to emphasize that federal subsidies are available for the majority of people eligible to buy marketplace plans.
Amid the price hikes, there’s a bright spot for consumers looking to buy Obamacare plans: More are seeing a decrease in the cost of the most-popular silver plans than saw a reduction last year. McKinsey found that 27 percent of shoppers in the 2014-2015 enrollment season saw prices drop, while this year, 34 percent of shoppers are seeing prices decline, although that’s based only on a comparison of the average price of the lowest-cost silver plan.
But shoppers’ experiences vary widely depending on where they live. Average premiums are increasing in the vast majority of states, rising by as much as 26 percent in Oklahoma. They’re coming down in a handful of states, including New Mexico, where they’re falling by 14 percent.
And shoppers have slightly fewer plan options during this enrollment period, which lasts through January. There are now 314 insurers participating in marketplaces around the country, down from 333 last year. While 16 percent of consumers will have more plans available to them, 40 percent will find fewer carriers competing in their county.
The premium hikes and slight reduction in competition feed into Republican criticism that President Obama’s signature healthcare law would leave many Americans without affordable insurance options. The leading GOP candidates have all called for repealing the Affordable Care Act, and the Senate is expected to soon vote on a bill ditching some of its major components.
