Insurance premiums on the individual marketplace have increased by between 60 percent and close to 160 percent since 2014 in the six states that have seen the biggest hikes.
Arizona takes top spot for the percentage increase of an average benchmark silver plan — close to 160 percent.
These figures, compiled by Patient Daily, emerged following the announcement by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that average premiums across the country will rise 25 percent next year.
The average cost for a silver plan on the exchanges has increased just over 157 percent in Arizona, 142 percent in Oklahoma, 117 percent in Alaska, 82 percent in both Alabama and North Carolina, and 60 percent in Illinois.
“Arizona is really showing the nation what is going to happen across the country,” Naomi Bauman, director of health care policy at Phoenix-based Goldwater Institute, told Patient Daily. “It’s a very dramatic rise. The insurers were intentionally underpricing thinking they were going to get bailed out.”
A marketing campaign has been launched to try and encourage younger, healthier individuals to sign up for the exchanges in greater numbers, hoping to steady prices. However, Bauman is skeptical.
“People do not want to buy, or the young and healthy are dropping in and out of the market,” she said. “It is not a very good deal financially.”
In Arizona, this may be especially significant because of the very large young and healthy Hispanic population, Bauman added.
It's not just the premiums — for which many receive financial assistance — but the high deductibles, as well, she said. People may have deductibles of $8,000 before insurance companies kick in a dime, according to the health policy expert.
Bauman described the exchange as being in a “death spiral” because of insurers pulling out and because of the “disturbing trend” where the networks are getting narrower, and patients are unable to see their doctor of choice.
HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell, following the announcement that premiums will increase an average of 25 percent, argued that many consumers will receive financial assistance.
“Thanks to financial assistance, most marketplace consumers this year will find plan options with premiums between $50 and $100 per month,” Burwell said. “Millions of uninsured Americans qualify for financial assistance, and so could as many as 2.5 million Americans currently paying full price for off-marketplace coverage.”
Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL) described Obamacare, particularly the individual exchanges, as a “failed social experiment.”
“Even Obamacare’s former champions in Washington and around the country are slowly beginning to see what millions have known for a long time: Obamacare is crazy expensive,” he told Patient Daily.
Shimkus cited Minnesota’s Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton for declaring “the Affordable Care Act is no longer affordable.” He also mentioned former President Bill Clinton and his remarks about Obamacare being “the craziest thing in the world.”
“With national average premium increases of over 25 percent — four times more than originally projected — Obamacare is becoming increasingly unaffordable for the average American family,” Shimkus said.
