Iowa insurer Medica said it would raise its 2018 Obamacare rates by roughly 14 percentage points if President Trump doesn’t commit to payments to insurers.
Medica, the only Obamacare insurer in the state, has requested a 56.7 percent rate increase for 2018, up from the 43.5 percent rate hike it originally requested. The refiled rates affect only silver plans, the most popular of Obamacare’s three plan choices.
Medica said the request is because of uncertainty about federal cost-sharing reduction payments that reimburse insurers for reducing out-of-pocket costs for low-income Obamacare customers.
“We remain hopeful the federal government will fund the cost-sharing reductions,” said Geoff Bartsh, Medica vice president of individual and family business.
Medica added that more than 24,500 Iowans get assistance through the cost-sharing payments.
Medica is the latest insurer to say it will charge higher Obamacare rates if the cost-sharing payments are not made. While the Trump administration decided to make the payments for August, it has not made any long-term commitments.
Congress is working on a bipartisan deal to fund the payments for 2018, but likely won’t get done until the end of September at the earliest.
A recent estimate from the Congressional Budget Office found that if the cost-sharing payments are not made, premiums for Obamacare customers could rise 20 percent next year.
