Marin’s rates to rise 1.1% in state health insurance exchange

Marin Independent Journal (CA)

Aug. 2--Marin residents purchasing health insurance via the California insurance marketplace established under Obamacare are expected to see their health care premiums increase an average of 1.1% in 2020.

Covered California, an independent part of the state government whose job is to make California's health insurance marketplace work for consumers, announced earlier this month that statewide individual insurance premiums will rise by an average of 0.8% in 2020.

Marin's slightly higher figure was calculated as part of region that also includes Sonoma, Napa and Solano counties.

The statewide average is the smallest increase in rates since 2014, when the state's health exchange was launched under the federal Affordable Care Act. Last year, Covered California premiums statewide jumped an average of 8%.

"Actually, most Covered California consumers will actually see a decrease in their premiums," said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access, a statewide health care consumer advocacy organization based in Oakland. "That is because of actions that California has taken to counter the Trump administration's efforts to sabotage the Affordable Care Act."

At the national level, with Obamacare still under siege from the Trump administration and congressional Republicans, Democratic presidential candidates debated this week whether to make advocacy for a government-run single-payer system an election issue.

"It's good that presidential candidates are talking about how we can take additional steps rather than debating about whether to repeal the Affordable Care Act," Wright said. "Health Access has long supported a single-payer, Medicare for all solution, but we also support other reforms that will provide immediate help to consumers in the meantime."

According to Covered California, the significantly lower rate change is because of two state affordability initiatives: the restoration of an individual mandate to purchase health insurance, and new state subsidies that an estimated 922,000 consumers will be eligible to receive.

California is the first state in the country to offer state-funded tax credits to middle-class enrollees. An estimated 235,000 middle-income Californians who previously didn't qualify for financial assistance will be eligible to receive an average of $172 per household per month. Another 20,000 Californians at or below the poverty line will get their premiums reduced to nearly zero.

"I absolutely think that Marin residents will be assisted by this," said Kari Beuerman, assistant director of the Marin County Department of Health and Human Services. "The important thing to note in Marin is the high cost of living. Working families need all of the help they can get."

The number of Marin residents enrolling through Covered California peaked in 2016 at 12,720 and was 12,310 as of March 2019, the lowest number since the creation of the exchange.

Beuerman said the decrease in Marin enrollments through Covered California also might be because of people becoming ineligible for subsidies after increases in their income.

"Every January when the minimum wage goes up, fewer people qualify for any type of assistance or subsidies," she said.

Covered California is projecting that an additional 225,000 Californians will enroll for health care through the state's exchange because of the new financial help that was included in the 2019-2020 state budget.

The budget includes $1.5 billion dollars over three years in state subsidies to help low- and moderate-income Californians. Affordability assistance has been extended to people earning six times the poverty level -- around $75,000 for an individual, and $150,000 for a family of four.

Covered California executive director Peter Lee said, "The bold moves by Gov. Newsom and the Legislature will save Californians hundreds of millions of dollars in premiums and provide new financial assistance to middle-income Californians, which will help people get covered and stay covered."

California's actions came in response to moves by the Trump administration and congressional Republicans to undermine Obamacare. The elimination of the individual mandate to purchase health insurance in 2017 resulted in higher premiums in 2019 and likely contributed to a drop in new consumers signing up for coverage during the most recent open-enrollment period, which ended in January.

The Trump administration has also taken other steps to weaken Obamacare: dramatically cutting funding for enrollment efforts and shortening the annual open-enrollment period.

In addition, a lawsuit filed by a group of Republican attorneys general claims that Congress' decision to scrap the individual mandate penalty rendered the law unconstitutional. The case is being heard in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans and could reach the U.S. Supreme Court before the 2020 presidential election.

___

Visit The Marin Independent Journal (Novato, Calif.) at www.marinij.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.