Isn’t free healthcare grand?
Via Denver Post:
For people buying their own health insurance, the cost of coverage in Colorado is going up.
Statewide, an average individual policy will cost almost 10 percent more next year, the Colorado Division of Insurance announced Friday. For small businesses and nonprofit agencies — those with two to 99 employees — the increases will average a more modest 3 percent. Overall, the average increase will be about 7 percent.
Cost increases will vary greatly from one region of the state to another. In Denver and Boulder, individual polices will cost about 6 percent more. In Glenwood Springs — a mountain region — the average individual premium will jump 25 percent.
Those are averages. Actual premiums will depend on a host of factors, such as the type of plan, the buyer’s age, tobacco use and insurance company choice.
“Rates reflect the cost of health care, and the Division of Insurance has verified that information,” commissioner Marguerite Salazar said. “This is only the third open enrollment under the Affordable Care Act, and these rates represent the first time carriers had a full year of data to inform their rates.”
For people buying insurance through the state health exchange, higher premiums may be offset partly by higher federal tax credits, which are based on the cost of a benchmark plan.
The least expensive insurer, Colorado HealthOP, will not be allowed to provide coverage in 2016.
The insurance division decided to shut down the cooperative this month after a federal program provided unexpectedly low reimbursements to cooperatives. The division concluded the cooperative lacked adequate reserves.