The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Benchmark Obamacare plan premiums to drop 4%
With 10 days to go until the open enrollment period allowing people to switch health plans, a federal agency announced that rates will drop 4 percent on average for a benchmark option under the Affordable Care Act, even as a popular Connecticut option will see premiums increase for some.
It is the second straight year of deflationary rates across states that use health exchanges designed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, though results varied from state to state, with New Jersey among those to see rates increase by a doubledigit percentage.
Connecticut designed its own Access Health CT system to help people purchase insurance who cannot find an affordable option from their employer or carriers offering individual plans, as an alternative to the template created by the Obama administration.
Nationally, CMS calculated an average 4 percent decline in the premiums a 27yearold would pay under the secondlowest cost silver plan, which the agency uses as a benchmark to assess broader pricing trends under Obamacare. That comes on the heels of a 1 percent decline last year which had represented the first drop for the Affordable Care Act.
Factoring in tax credits available to Access Health CT members, the nonprofit calculates renewal rates for its lowestcost silver plans ranging from a 10 percent reduction in Litchfield County; to increases of 7 percent in Fairfield County and 8 percent in New Haven and Middlesex counties, and 2 percent in Hartford County.
Entering this year, the Trump administration scrapped a tax penalty for those who do not get health insurance, which some experts say could lead to rising health care costs and by extension insurance rates as individuals go without coverage, reducing exams that can lead to doctors catching ailments before they worsen, and saddling hospitals with the costs of emergency care they provide.
In Connecticut, 5.3 percent of residents lacked health insurance last year, up from 4.9 percent in 2016 according to a Mintz + Hoke study released last week that was commissioned by Access Health CT. For those age 2634, the uninsured rate was 10.7 percent in 2018 in Connecticut, up a full percentage point from two years earlier.
In Connecticut, open enrollment begins Nov. 1 for plans that take effect in 2020, with more than 111,000 people having secured insurance at the start of this year through Access Health CT for plans offered by Anthem and ConnectiCare.
Access Health CT has been running free information sessions statewide this month, with the slate to include a Stamford Government Center session from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 29. Registration is online at Learn.AccessHealthCT.com.