Health plan premiums are stabilizing, regardless of Republican efforts to the contrary

Health Plan Premiums - Health - Family - Business

Despite the best efforts by the GOP to kick the pins out from under the ACA, prices are evening out.

Even as Republicans work to undermine the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, health plan premiums are stabilizing. Insurance premiums have been rising, but they will be increasing only slightly in the majority of states that have already submitted their 2019 price proposals.

Moreover, unlike last year, there are insurance companies stepping into the markets, not out of them.

The improvements are the result of reduced political certainty regarding health care policies, steeper price increases this year than had been necessary, a better understanding of the markets, improvement in health care and a range of efforts made by the states themselves.

Average proposed health plan premiums for all policy levels in California, Pennsylvania, Florida, Colorado, Nevada, Indiana, Ohio and Delaware will rise by under 9 percent next year. This, according to Kaiser Family Foundation data. Comparatively, the average increase in mid-priced plans from 2017 to 2018 had been 37 percent, according to a recent Pew report.

Regardless of the GOP changes to the Affordable Care Act, health plan premiums are leveling off.

In certain states, there will be a decrease in the premiums for 2019. Certain specific metropolitan areas are also expected to experience health insurance premium reductions. These include: New York, Baltimore, Atlanta, Denver and Washington D.C.

Based on this data, analysts feel that the average increase across the entire country will remain in the single digits this year. That said, this is assuming that the Trump administration does not add any new attacks to its efforts to sink the Affordable Care Act.

Still, the Kaiser Family Foundation’s data did show that some areas are doing far better than others. While the Health Plan Premiums - Health - Family - Businessaverage may be positive, there are still some parts of the country that are facing far stiffer health insurance rate increases. Maryland, for example, so far faces an average premiums increase of 30 percent for next year. Over coming weeks, the rest of the insurance companies across the country will be filing their rate proposals for 2019 to show the final details.

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