Robert King of the Washington Examiner surveys the data associated with Affordable Care Act rate hikes across the country.
Obamacare consumers will face double-digit rate hikes for 2017, with most states looking at an average 25 percent increase, according to one estimate.
The premium spikes come as the Obama administration will boost outreach this open enrollment season, which starts Nov. 1, to reach more people who are uninsured. Opponents of the law point to the premium hikes as evidence the law isn’t working, while the Obama administration said healthcare would remain affordable for most customers thanks to tax credits.
An independent estimate from the website acasignups.net found that 41 states approved an average rate increase of about 25 percent. That figure includes Affordable Care Act-compliant individual plans that are sold off the law’s exchanges.
The individual market is for people who don’t get insurance through their job and includes Obamacare’s marketplaces.
Charles Gaba, who runs the website and is an Obamacare supporter, said in a post Wednesday that the 25 percent hike will likely hold.
“Barring any dramatic last-minute development in one or more large states, national speaking, 25 percent is where unsubsidized, ACA-compliant individual market rate hikes are for 2017,” he said.
The increases can vary depending on states and individual plans. Some states are seeing increases as high as 75 percent.
