Premiums to rise for some low-cost plans

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Many of the 7 million consumers who got insurance under President Barack Obama’s health care law will see their premiums rise next year unless they switch to another plan, independent analysts said as the government released details Friday.

The Health and Human Services department released a massive computer file of 2015 premiums one day ahead of the start of open enrollment. Those numbers will take time to fully analyze.

Late Friday, the administration said some HealthCare.gov functions were to be turned off overnight in the transition to sign-up season. Spokeswoman Lori Lodes said consumers will be able to start enrolling for 2015 coverage sometime early today.

Premiums are the first thing most consumers look at.

Overall, the premiums for a type of low-price plan that the government uses to set subsidies for consumers will cost roughly the same as this year, about $330 a month on average. Many people will pay much less after subsidies, about 25 percent of the cost, which will be good news for first-time customers.

But there is a catch if you are already a customer: Your plan may no longer be the lost-cost benchmark in your community. In that case, you’ll pay more unless you switch.

“Just because you enrolled in a low-cost plan this year is no guarantee that your plan will also be low-cost next year,” said Larry Levitt of the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. He analyzed a 48-city sample of 2015 premiums from data available earlier this week.

“Last year’s low-cost plans will experience premium increases, meaning the majority of consumers will experience cost increases if they re-enroll in the same plan,” said Caroline Pearson of Avalere Health, a private market analysis firm.

An early look by Avalare at premiums for a hypothetical 50-year-old nonsmoker in the benchmark plan found wide differences among states, from a 28 percent increase in Alaska to a 19 percent reduction in Mississippi. Most states saw single-digit changes.

Consumers should be wary of national and even state averages, and instead focus on what’s happening with their own plan, the analysis said.

The shifts are due to the ups and downs of the market and to cost-saving provisions written into the law.