Health insurance premiums are rising, reports Jonathan Keisling: “[T]he cost of 2016 benchmark Silver plans will increase by an average of 27 percent in 2017 for a 27-year-old non-smoker. While the lowest cost Bronze plan will increase by 22 percent in 2017.” The problem, explains Keisling, is that insurers are losing money on the Affordable Care Act exchanges, forcing many to exit the market, while those that remain raise premiums: “In 2017, only 36 out of 498 rating areas will see an increase in competition while 366 rating areas lost at least one insurer. Of the rating areas that lost insurers, 78 rating areas lost two or more and many regions in Illinois, Ohio, Texas, and Arizona, among others, saw five or more insurers exit their exchanges. This mass exodus of insurers in many rating areas paints the picture of a marketplace that is increasingly hostile to private insurance. Just as in previous research, we find that increased competition in the marketplace leads to smaller increases in premiums. In rating areas where 2 or more insurers entered the marketplace, the average lowest-cost Bronze premium increased by roughly 5 percent. In areas where there was no growth or a decrease in competition, there was an average increase of 23 percent.”
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