Subsidy cuts will raise rates for Obamacare exchange plans
Local insurance agents who sell health insurance plans and hospital officials are awaiting its impact of President Donald Trump’s decision to end subsidies covering low-income participants in the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance exchange.
Last week, Trump announced he was cutting the Cost Sharing Reduction (CSR) payments for insurance companies that offset the costs of offering plans with reduced deductibles and co-pays for marketplace low-income enrollees — those with incomes of 100 to 250 percent of the federal poverty level.
The average cost of coverage for individual plans sold on the federal exchange, commonly called Obamacare, in 2018 will be 34 percent higher than the average cost of coverage in 2017. Approximately 11 percent of that increase is attributable to the cost-sharing payment cuts, according to the
The
The reduced cost-sharing is only available in silver-level plans, and the premiums are the same as standard silver plans, according to
Anticipating the president’s decision, insurance companies filed two sets of rates for the 2018 silver plans with the
“This will drive up the costs of silver plans for 2018,” said
According to Tharp, the maximum out-of-pocket (deductibles and co-pays) on the silver plan with Medical Mutual for a person with an income above the federal poverty line was
The end of CSR subsidies could lead to more insurance companies exiting the ACA marketplaces.
In 2018,
On Tuesday, Senators
Trump’s announcement last week came a few hours after he signed an executive order “to increase the healthcare choices for millions of Americans.” The president is seeking to expand choices and alternatives to ACA plans through Association Health Plans, low-cost short-term limited duration insurance (STLDI) and Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs).
Wooster Community Hospital CFO
Boyes added another “concern is obviously that individuals with pre-existing health conditions will be at risk of having no coverage.
He also warned, “No one can predict future healthcare needs with complete certainty, and such plans could put patients at risk when care is needed most.”
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