MNsure Rates: Most Going Up, Insurers Say
By Nick Woltman, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
"Some of my clients are going to experience some pretty severe sticker shock," said
Of the five insurers that offered policies through MNsure in 2014, four are returning for the marketplace's second year.
When added together and divided by four, these numbers do, in fact, return an average increase of 4.5 percent.
"That doesn't say much about what's actually happening," said
Brokken said the
Brokken said a weighted average, which assigns greater significance to carriers with more policy holders, would be a better measure. Using such a calculation, he concluded the average increase would be about 11.8 percent.
But the
"MNsure is a functioning marketplace where consumers will continue to shop to get the best deal for their health insurance," the department said in an email.
In other words, while their premiums might increase, consumers can shop for a cheaper policy on MNsure, thus negating or softening the impact of the rate hike.
But neither his calculation nor the
Calls to PreferredOne requesting comment for this article were not returned.
Without PreferredOne's 2015 premiums, "it's really hard to do an apples-to-apples comparison," said
Michaels, the Dyste Williams agent, got her first look at them Tuesday. One of her clients, a woman in
PreferredOne's 2015 offerings don't include a platinum plan, but the next step down -- a gold plan -- would cost her
Michaels said her client will likely go with a platinum plan through
Michaels said most MNsure shoppers last year gravitated to the plans with the lowest monthly premiums. Depending on where in
Moreover, when considering costs, it's important to remember that tax credits help make health insurance premiums on plans sold through MNsure more affordable, said MNsure spokesman
The 2010 federal Affordable Care Act, which led to the creation of MNsure and other state health insurance exchanges, offers tax credits to people at certain income levels if they can't buy a benchmark policy for less than a set percentage of their income.
Most people will qualify for some sort of financial assistance, Campbell noted.
"Starting
As for the 2015 MNsure premiums, the debate over whose math is correct also has political significance leading up to November's midterm election. Republicans point to the rising cost of MNsure premiums as a failure on the part of Gov.
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