Pennsylvania’s ACA Rates Set To Creep Up In 2019

June 05--Individual insurance premiums for plans sold on the Affordable Care Act's marketplace are going up by an average of 4.9 percent in Pennsylvania next year, according to the state Insurance Department.

The relatively small increase comes even as the "individual and small group insurance markets have been subject to intense and deliberate sabotage by the federal government in the past year," according to a Tuesday news release from the department.

The department cited federal government decisions to shorten the period of time in which people can sign up for the plans and to eliminate the requirement in 2019 that everyone have health insurance.

It also cited President Donald Trump's decision last year to eliminate federal funding for added benefits that had been included in plans for the lowest-income policyholders. The department cited that change last year when it approved an average rate increase of 30 percent for the plans. Increases averaged about 33 percent the year before that.

About 389,000 Pennsylvanians had bought the individual ACA plans and were paying their monthly premiums as of April, according to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services data. Most people with the plans don't pay the full percentage increase each year, since federal subsidies adjust their premiums according to their income. The rate increases don't affect people who get their insurance through an employer.

The statewide average increase of 4.9 percent could include big variations in rate changes by region and by plan around the state. Insurers filed proposed rates on May 21. The Insurance Department isn't going to release region- or plan-specific rates until July 21. Under federal law, the department reviews rate increases and can approve or deny the requests.

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated premiums will rise an average of 15 percent around the country in 2019, attributing 10 percent of the increase to the elimination of the requirement that everyone have insurance.

The GOP included language eliminating the requirement in the tax overhaul. Insurers have said the repeal will require price increases in the ACA's individual insurance marketplace because more young, healthy people will likely choose to go without insurance, leaving older, sicker people with higher medical bills in the "pool" of those paying for insurance.

Pennsylvania's uninsured rate of 5.6 percent is the lowest recorded in the state, according to the Insurance Department.

Wes Venteicher is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 412-380-5676, wventeicher@tribweb.com or via Twitter @wesventeicher.

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