Higher premiums trigger decline in Arizona insurance signups
The review by
Overall,
The study comes as the Republican-led Congress is debating dramatic changes to the Obama-era law.
But Derksen's research shows there are actually two simultaneous running stories about the ACA: While in
Nationally, the number who chose plans during open enrollment declined about 4 percent, from 12.7 million to 12.2 million. The number of people who actually paid the premiums, however, is at least 10 percent lower.
The sharp decline in insurance purchases among higher-earning Arizonans who don't get help paying for health insurance under Obama's law shows the impact of the higher rates on those who don't get subsidies, Derksen said.
"That's the group that felt the full force of the doubling of premiums in our state," said Derksen, a physician and director of the
The same scenario will likely play out nationally, Derksen said, as premiums rise and the number of insurance choices declines.
The average premium in
Last year, 52,797 Arizonans who bought and paid for plans earned too much to get a tax subsidy. That number fell to 40,537 at the end of open enrollment on
Nearly 80 percent of the 196,521 people who chose plans on the exchange this year in
Under Obama's law, subsidies go up when premiums rise. They phase out at 400 percent of the federal poverty level, which is just above
Nationally, premiums also rose, although not as dramatically. The average cost is up by 25 percent across the 39 states that use the federal exchange to facilitate health insurance sales.
The proposal now making its way through
Drastic changes are also proposed for
Overall, the
Enrollment figures released by the Health and
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