It’s rate filing season for health insurance companies, and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina proposed a 25 percent average premium hike for 2016 non group health plans. In yesterday’s media briefing, VP and chief actuary Patrick Getzen explained that the increase is needed to balance the 2015 enrollee mix thus far. Based on data from January thru March of this year, 2015 enrollees are skewing older and sicker – moreso than 2014.

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For some, the federal health law is living up to its name. For most, not so much. While 94 percent of enrollees do qualify for premium or cost sharing assistance, plans are still pricey. Getzon threw out an example to put the rate increase in perspective: a 40 year old male with a Blue Value Plan was once paying $315 per month along with a $2,500 deductible. Should the rate increases be approved by the Department of Insurance by the end of the summer, that person could be ponying up $391 per month with the same deductible. As a result, the insurer is seeing a trend where one in five customers have signed up for coverage, paid the first month’s premium, used services, and then dropped their plan.

Things will only get more interesting should the Supreme Court issue a favorable ruling for the plaintiffs in King v Burwell at the end of the month. According to yesterday’s Politico, multiple states have filed two sets of rates should Obamacare’s health insurance subsidies be stripped in North Carolina along with the remaining 34 federal exchange states.