This is the cost of Obamacare. The Democrats should bear the full brunt of the political backlash. They forced this bad, expensive law thru. The Republicans should let it rest on their shoulders. “Here’s the gift from your messiah. It’s what you wanted.”
Dean Cameron, director of the Idaho state Department of Insurance, announced today that health insurers offering plans on Idaho’s state insurance exchange have proposed premium rate increases next year averaging 38 percent. “I am deeply disappointed and frustrated to share these rates,” Cameron said in a news release; you can read it here. “I understand how difficult it will be for Idahoans to afford reasonable coverage, especially those without a subsidy.”
The rates, which also cover plans offered outside the exchange, aren’t final; while Cameron’s department doesn’t have authority to regulate rates, it can declare proposed rates “unreasonable,” and it has successfully negotiated lower rate increases with carriers in the past to avoid labeling them as unreasonable. Final rates will be announced in about two months.
Idaho Statesman reporter Audrey Dutton reports that the largest increases are proposed in the “silver” plans, which are the most popular ones on the exchange, falling mid-range in pricing and benefits between the lower-level “bronze” plans and the high-end “gold” plans. Silver plans are showing average increases of 50 percent in premiums; they range from a low of 40 percent at Blue Cross to 69 percent at SelectHealth. Dutton writes that because subsidies that help Idahoans purchase plans on the exchange are based on the silver plan rates, that could mean that Idahoans actually end up paying less, but the federal government has to pay more, depending on their plans.