Obamacare plans in Ohio to cost 34 percent more on average in 2018

Sept. 06--People who buy health insurance through the Affordable Care Act will pay 34 percent more on average in Ohio next year.

There will be half as many insurers selling plans in Ohio and higher costs for buying insurance in 2018 amid uncertainty over whether President Donald Trump will follow through on threats to end federal payments lowering the cost of plans sold on the exchanges, according to the Ohio Department of Insurance, which released today the rate information.

About 11 percent of the increase is because the Ohio Department of Insurance required insurance companies to assume that the payments, called cost sharing reduction payments, will end. The Trump administration is now deciding on a month-to-month basis whether to make the payments and so far has continued to make them.

Christopher Brock, spokesman for the Ohio department, said the reason his office made insurers assume the federal subsidies will end is because if the payments were to suddenly stop, and insurance companies no longer had that money to help offer lower prices on priced deductibles and co-payments, then the insurance companies would either have to take a loss or suddenly drop out.

"That's not good for the consumer and it's certainly not good for the market as well," he said.

Along with higher costs, there will be less options this year to chose from. There are 62 counties with only one or two insurers selling options, compared to last year when all 88 counties had at least four.

While there were 17 companies that sold on Ohio exchanges last year, there are only eight companies selling this year, after companies like Premier Health Plan and Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield dropped out.

"So it's basically half the participation that we had just last year," Brock said.

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