Look what that socialistic government takeover of healthcare that is Obamacare has given us:
more competition and lower prices.
A surge in health insurer competition appears to be helping restrain premium increases in hundreds of counties next year, with prices dropping in many places where newcomers are offering the least expensive plans, according to a Kaiser Health News analysis of federal premium records.
KHN looked at premiums for the lowest-cost silver plan for a 40-year-old in 34 states where the federal government is running marketplaces for people who do not get coverage through their employers. Consumers have until Feb. 15 to enroll for coverage in 2015, the marketplace’s second year.
The number of insurers offering silver plans, the most popular type of plan in 2014, is increasing in two-thirds of counties, according to the analysis. In counties that are adding at least one insurer next year, premiums for the least expensive silver plan are rising 1 percent on average. Where the number of insurers is not changing, premiums are growing 7 percent on average.
The average premium increase in the cheapest silver plans for counties in states using the federal exchange is about 3 percent, but among those where a new carrier has jumped in with a silver plan, the average
decrease is 3 percent. In one case, Harrison and Clark counties in southern Indiana, premiums for the silver plan are dropping a whopping 25 percent, thanks to four new insurers jumping into the market.
That's good news for Obamacare shoppers in the majority of markets, but once again highlights just how important it is for people who enrolled in 2014 to shop again. This year's cheapest sliver plans—which is what subsidy levels were based on—aren't going to be the cheapest plans for 2015. That reduces the amount of subsidy everyone in that market is eligible for. It's a pain in the ass and complicated and not the way anyone really wanted this process to work, but it's how it's working for now, while insurers keep joining markets.