Trump’s Threats Driving Up Obamacare Insurance Prices In Connecticut

Sept. 15--Thousands of customers on Connecticut's health insurance exchange will pay higher premiums next year in part due to President Donald Trump's continued threats to suspend key payments to insurers who sell Affordable Care Act plans.

State Insurance Commissioner Katharine Wade said the department assumed Trump would end the cost-sharing reductions when approving average rate increases this week of 31.7 percent for Anthem customers and 27.7 percent for ConnectiCare customers.

That decision was made, "because we needed to provide certainty for the market, certainty for the exchange and certainty for the consumers of the state of Connecticut," Wade told board members of Access Health CT, the state's health insurance exchange, during a meeting Thursday.

The Senate's health committee is in the process of drafting bipartisan legislation to protect the cost-sharing reductions -- which enable insurers to offer discount silver-level plans for low-income customers -- but it didn't come in time for Connecticut to set its rates for Obamacare plans.

"What happens if the federal funding continues and we have rates that ... have been increased?" asked Robert Tessier, vice chair of Access Health's board.

Wade said she believed the department would be able to lower rates if there was certainty about federal funding.

Customers on Access Health CT who qualify for tax credits to help pay their premiums will see those subsidies increase as rates rise. But board member Paul Philpott asked about the 26 percent of enrollees who receive no federal assistance.

"When you start talking about 20- ... and 30-percent rate increases, on top of premiums that in my view are already extremely high, and then you compound that with the fact that many of these people ... are not receiving a subsidy. I'm very concerned that there's going to be people that look at this, and for economic reasons decide they'd rather pay the $695 penalty" for not having health insurance, he said.

Access Health CT CEO Jim Wadleigh said some of those customers may find cheaper health insurance plans off the exchange.

"We are going to actively work with every one of those ... customers and make sure that we help them pick the best plan for their situation," he said.

With the announcement this week that both Anthem and ConnectiCare have agreed to sell insurance plans for 2018 on the exchange, Access Health CT is ramping up efforts to promote open enrollment, which begins Nov. 1 and continues through Dec. 22. The agency will be opening 10 in-person enrollment locations across the state.

"We are here to remind everyone that the Affordable Care Act is still the law, and that Access Health CT is still the only place where they can get financial help" to buy insurance, Wadleigh said in a written statement.

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