Premera expects big cut in health insurance premiums on Alaska’s individual market
Premera attributes the requested rate decrease of 21.6 percent -- yet to be approved by the
"This rate decrease can be attributed to a number of factors, including the payment of high cost claims through the state's reinsurance program and a significant reduction in the use of medical services by our customers," Premera spokeswoman
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But she cautioned that the rates -- effective
"While the rate decrease is an encouraging sign that the
Premera submitted the rate request on
The rate decrease assumes that Premera does not receive subsidies from the federal government known as cost share reductions (CSRs), Coon said.
That makes the proposed rate cut all the more remarkable at a time when many markets are on shaky ground. If the state does receive the CSRs, the rate cut could grow even larger.
President
The federal government spends about
On Tuesday, Sen.
Insurance companies that operate on the federal exchange must sign contracts with the federal government by
"There are a number of issues with the American health care system, but if your house is on fire, you want to put out the fire," he said. "And the fire in this case is the individual health insurance market. Both
"And I hate to keep hounding about process, but this is what people want to see," Murkowski said, noting that she heard from Alaskans over the weekend who wanted to watch the debate over health insurance play out in public.
Alexander said he expects that the
Until then, he said, he has asked the president "to temporarily continue the cost sharing reduction payments through September, so that
In exchanges outside
Premera calculated its rate decrease assuming that no CSR payments would be made in 2018. But with the results of the reinsurance program and the federal "1332 waiver," premium prices still saw a stark drop.
The waiver program will send
"That work is underway and would likely cause the decrease to change," Coon said.
Asked about the
"I think the next question of what has to happen is the payment right now," he said. Sullivan said he doesn't "want people to get hurt. So I would be supportive of making those payments."
Murkowski also said she'd like to see the subsidies remain in place in the "short-term for market stabilization."
"So I know, certainly nobody wants to be in a spot where you're saying, 'oh, bailing out the insurance companies.' But if you recognize that what this does is to stabilize the market so that the insurance companies don't send the premiums through the roof, then I think that they see the benefits to the individual families," she said. "So we'll see what he does," she said, speaking of Trump.
Speaking before Premera released the numbers, Sullivan said he had been given advance information from the insurance company but he was hesitant to share the details while the numbers were still under revision.
Nationally, things are looking worse, he said.
But, given the 1332 waiver, Sullivan said that the company was signaling that "we'll see for the first time a reverse in the spike in premiums that you know
"They had not shared with us the number," but Premera had said that several factors, including the 1332 waiver funding, would bring premium prices down in 2018, Murkowski said Tuesday evening when informed of Premera's expected cuts.
Another temporary issue, related to
"I do think, though, as we're talking about things that we can do to make a difference, you have a real live example now in
The considered but now-abandoned
"I think
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