Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Will Continue to Offer ACA Marketplace Health Plans in Every Michigan County for 2018 Open Enrollment
At the request of
The two sets of rates reflect plan premiums with, and without, the inclusion of
The fate of cost-sharing reduction (CSR) funding remains in question as federal officials determine whether it will be included for 2018.
BCBSM will continue to offer a significant choice of different individual plan options - with a total of 34 plans across Gold, Silver, Bronze and Catastrophic levels - and will continue to provide coverage in all 83 Michigan counties.
"Since the ACA became law,
If CSR funding continues, average rate increases for BCBSM individual products would be 26.9 percent, and BCN products would increase 13.8 percent on average, pending regulatory approval.
However, if CSR funding disappears, average premium increases would be significantly higher - 31.7 percent for BCBSM and 22.6 percent for BCN, pending approval.
Premium increases result from several factors in
* Skyrocketing drug prices. Prescription drug costs have grown 73 percent for BCBSM over the past seven years. Specialty drugs - expensive drugs with no market competition used to treat very serious health conditions - are putting a big strain on insurance affordability. The average cost for a specialty drug is
* People dropping coverage. About 20 percent of BCBSM individual enrollees drop coverage after receiving health services. This drives up costs for people who stay insured as the law requires.
* Young people staying out. Younger and healthier people continue to decline to be covered, leaving people with higher health costs in the insurance pool. This drives up the cost of insurance over time.
* Other insurers abandoning consumers. BCBSM currently offers the only PPO plan in
"We are very aware of the strain that people are feeling, because we talk with our customers every day," said
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