While it’s true that premiums for the popular silver Obamacare plan could shoot higher for 2018, most enrollees could actually end up paying less for coverage next year.
In fact, more consumers will be able to snag policies that will cost them nothing each month.
How can that be?
It’s because premium subsidies are soaring too, making many plans on the exchanges more affordable.
Consumers can now check out how much Obamacare will cost them in 2018.
The window shopping tool for the federal exchange, healthcare.gov, went live on Wednesday, allowing folks to start comparing plans a week before open enrollment begins.
What they find may shock them, especially if they aren’t eligible for federal premium subsidies. Premiums for silver plans — the most popular on the exchanges — will rise an average of 34% in the more than three dozen states that use the federal exchange, according to a new analysis from Avalere, a consulting firm. The hikes vary by state, with Iowa seeing the largest average silver plan rate increase at 69%.
A bipartisan health care bill to stabilize Obamacare markets would reduce the deficit, according to a new report by the Congressional Budget Office.
The finding gives the GOP sponsors of the bill, known as Alexander-Murray, a boost in their effort to convince President Trump that signing it would not be a “bailout” for insurers.
“Not only does it not cost anything, it saves taxpayers money,” Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., one of the sponsors, said in a floor speech.
Read more at NBC News
Senators in both political parties say they’ve reached agreement on fixes to stabilize Obamacare just two weeks before Americans start signing up for 2018 coverage.
President Donald Trump insisted Monday that Democrats will be blamed for their “Obamacare mess,” despite executive actions he took last week to undercut the law, while also expressing confidence that there will be a “long-term fix” for the law by March or April.
Trump moved last week to cut off cost-sharing reduction (CSR) subsidy payments to insurers. The scrapped subsidies, which were worth $7 billion this year and were paid out in monthly installments, will likely jolt the already-fragile Obamacare insurance markets, but Trump denied any responsibility for what may happen to Obamacare or the millions of people impacted by his decision.
With efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act dead in Congress for now, a critical test for the law’s future is playing out in one small, conservative-leaning state.
Iowa is anxiously waiting for the Trump administration to rule on a requestthat is loaded with implications for the law’s survival. If approved by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, it would allow the state to jettison some of Obamacare’s main features next year – its federally run insurance marketplace, its system for providing subsidies, its focus on helping poorer people afford insurance and medical care – and could open the door for other states to do the same.
For the first time, rank-and-file Republicans are acknowledging Obamacare may never be repealed.
After multiple failures to repeal the law, the White House and many GOP lawmakers are publicly promising to try again in early 2018. But privately, both House and Senate Republicans acknowledge they may never be able to deliver on their seven-year vow to scrap the law, reports Politico.
Twenty states attribute ObamaCare premium increases next year to uncertainty caused by the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress, according to a new report released Thursday.
The report from pro-ObamaCare group Protect Our Care analyzed the 28 states where final, state-approved rates are public and found that 20 specifically cited uncertainty at the federal level for at least part of the reason for increases.
Insurers have pleaded with the Trump administration for more certainty over whether ObamaCare’s insurer subsidies will be paid but have yet to get it.
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