Obamacare premiums set to increase by 5.2% in 2019
7 companies sign up to offer insurance plans
The cost of premiums in the 2019 Obamacare marketplace is projected to increase by 5.2 percent, a modest rise compared with last year’s rates, which went up by as much as 45 percent, according to data released by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation on Tuesday afternoon.
Seven insurance companies have signed up to offer plans in the marketplace next year, with rate increases ranging from 2.4 percent to 9.8 percent. One insurance company dropped its rate by 1.5 percent.
“What's important to remember is that subsidies are tied to the second lowest priced silver plan. So low-income people don't feel the impact of these increases as much as people who have higher incomes and get little or no subsidies,” said Anne Packham, project director for the Marketplace Navigators for Central Florida, in an email.
Six of the marketplace players are the same as last year: Florida Blue, Celtic Insurance Co. (a product of Ambetter/Centene), Florida Health Care Plan (a product of Florida Blue), Health First Commercial
Plans, Health Options (a Florida Blue subsidiary) and Molina Healthcare of Florida.
The seventh player, Oscar Insurance Co. of Florida, is new to the state and is offering plans only in Lake, Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties.
Oscar’s arrival in Central Florida is noteworthy because the company is considered a disrupter in the field, and it has been called as much an insurance business as a technology company that uses data analytics to create personalized products for consumers.
The New-York-based company was founded in 2012 and has been selling health plans in the marketplace since 2013. Oscar increased its reach across the nation this year, from six to nine states, including Florida, Arizona and Michigan. Most recently, it received a $375 million investment from Google’s parent company, Alphabet.
“Our sustained expansion positions Oscar as one of the fastest-growing insurers in the country, and speaks to the power and effectiveness of our unique playbook,” said Mario Schlosser, CEO and cofounder of the company in a June blog post on the company’s website.
State data show that 19 counties will have access to plans from only one insurer. Seminole County residents will have access to the biggest pool, with six insurers as their choices.
As it was this year, Florida Blue is set to offer marketplace plans in all 67 counties in 2019. The company premium cost is set to increase by 2.4 percent compared with last year’s 38.1 percent.
The increase, which affected rates nationwide, was mostly driven by cuts to the federal reimbursements that help insurance companies compensate for discounts they give low-income consumers. But despite Republicans’ continued effort to repeal the health law, there have been no drastic changes to Obamacare this year.
Floridians interested in off-marketplace individual plans will have access to plans from one to seven insurers, depending on their county of residence.
All seven players in the marketplace are offering off-marketplace plans.
AvMed and Cigna Health and Life Insurance Co. also plan to sell individual health plans, but only off the marketplace. Freedom Life Insurance Co. of America, which sold individual plans off-marketplace last year, is no longer listed.
Although the rates are locked at the state level, they still have to be finalized by the Department of Health & Human Services and could change in the coming months, state insurance regulators say.