A top administration official said customers facing big Obamacare premium increases next year will need to shop around to find a cheaper plan, despite some states having only one insurer offering plans.
Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell told CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer Tuesday that the premium hikes, which will average 25 percent across all Obamacare plans, won’t be so bad for customers.
“Of course across the board we don’t want to see premium increases, and as I said, in the employer-based market we’ve seen that premium growth slowing,” Burwell said.
Facing such high premium spikes, the administration has responded that more than 75 percent of customers will receive tax credits that will match the high premiums. But that doesn’t take into account people who don’t get tax credits and are facing high premiums.
Burwell said Obamacare customers can go “window shopping.”
“So people can start looking at plans and looking at the kind of financial assistance they can get and which plans might be best for them from an affordable and quality perspective,” she said.
Blitzer pressed that several states have only one carrier. “There isn’t any competition,” he said. “All the other health insurance carriers left the state.”
Five states have only one Obamacare issuer: South Carolina, Alaska, Alabama, Oklahoma and Wyoming.
Burwell responded that on average consumers would have 30 plans to choose from.
“Even in those states where there is a single consumer, single issuer, last year we know that the average issuer had at least 10 plans,” she said.
Burwell also responded to former President Bill Clinton’s prior comments that Obamacare was the “craziest thing in the world,” saying that he had clarified those remarks.
“Last year for folks who came back on the marketplace and actually shopped, the average savings was $500,” she said.
